DARKMATTERS - The Mind Of Matt

The Sequel is coming and Lucas Closs interview...

2026-03-28T21:05:00.001+00:00

THE SEQUEL

Matt Adcock (@Cleric20)

The Sequel is a new comedy-drama from emerging writer Lucas Closs that explores what happens when a novelist returns to the place she used as source material for her wildly successful novel, discovering herself both worshipped and cursed by the residents. The Sequel examines the impact of storytelling on real lives as characters are trapped by their own portrayals.

The production will be directed by Imy Wyatt Corner, who won a Fringe First in 2023 for her production of Mandi Chivasa’s BEASTS and the Charlie Harthill Award for her production of Maatin’s Duck. The Sequel follows the journey of novelist Grace “G.T.” Thoth, as she revisits the café where she wrote her first book, reconnecting with John, the person on whom she based the character of her iconic mentor. The production will feature a live musical score, adding texture and presence to the storytelling.

G.T’s coming-of-age book established her reputation as a distinctive literary voice and made the village she grew up in a destination for tourists. In the years since it was published, the café has become a small museum dedicated to her work, preserved by John- famed as the gardening poet of her novel but now a weathered tour guide. G.T is confronted with the impact her work has had on the area and its residents, as well as Martha, the cafe museum’s current owner, who resents the author for not putting her mum in the book.

‘Whatever you mentioned just became more of itself, whatever you left out, died.’

Meanwhile, John attempts to inspire Grace to write something new to revive interest in the area - and thereby bolster his livelihood.

Set within a rural community reshaped by literary notoriety and tourism, The Sequel explores authorship, ego and responsibility with dark humour. The play captures the pull of nostalgia, the desire to preserve a place exactly as it was and the compulsion to record and shape our experience into narrative. It also reveals the complications that arise when real lives become ‘material’; at the heart of the play lies the question of our relationship to others and the moral questions that arise when they become resources in our own creative progress. Directed by Imy Wyatt Corner and produced by Ella Dale, The Sequel marks Lucas Closs as an emerging writer to watch.

Listings information:
Venue: Kings Head Theatre, N1 1QP, London

Run: 20th April - 2nd May (Not Fridays) 9pm except Saturdays 8pm, Sundays at 4pm.

Running time: 75 mins no interval
Age guidance: 14+

Tickets from £18.50
https://kingsheadtheatre.com/

Lucas 'Mr Sequel'

I had the chance to ask the writer Lucas some questions…

Matt:The play deals with nostalgia and preserving the past. Why do you think people are so drawn to revisiting places connected to stories?

Lucas: I think it’s to have a kind of immersive experience. To be in the story we feel a connection to and to fill in the gaps. This is the setting of the play- a cafe preserved in a novelist’s description of itself to attract the public and to honour the shared story it featured in. The novelist (played by Nisha Emich) returns here for nostalgia but instead faces the consequences of her recording. There is always a gulf between our expectations of these kinds of places and the reality that prevents the immersion we had hoped for.

Matt:The Sequel seems fascinated by the fallout of storytelling the way writing about a place can immortalise it but also distort it. What sparked the idea of exploring the “collateral damage” of a successful novel?

Lucas: I am particularly interested in the collateral damage of an inspiring life-story. We often hear inspiring stories of people’s backgrounds in public life- Grace’s novel is basically a memoir of her adolescence. I’m interested in where this places the character John (played by Jim Findley) who hasn’t left the remote area that Grace ‘rose out’ from, or the cafe manager, Martha, (played by Julia Pilkington) who’s recently returned to work there. Michael Sandel’s ‘The Tyranny of Merit’ thinks about the insults that can be implicit in these kinds of inspiring stories. Both the residents have a combination of worship and resentment towards Grace.

Matt:Grace returning to the café that inspired her book feels almost like a ghost returning to haunt the living. Did you see this play partly as a kind of literary haunting?

Lucas: That’s very interesting. I think for Grace it’s the other way round- she is ‘the living’ and everyone there are ‘ghosts’. I did have a Christmas Carol in mind with Grace as Scrooge confronting the unknown consequences of her past… maybe if I set it at Christmas, it could become a Christmas play performed annually across the nation!

Matt:One of the most striking ideas in the play is that people can become trapped by the way they’ve been written. Do you think that’s something that happens in real life that once someone tells a story about us, it can start to define who we are?

Lucas: I’m interested in how others see us can powerfully determine how we see ourselves- particularly in a digital media landscape.

The success of Grace’s novel means Grace’s perception of the residents becomes the public perception; I think this sort of power is quite daunting.

Matt:Writers writing about writers can sometimes become a hall of mirrors. What did writing Grace teach you about your own relationship with storytelling?

Lucas: I am interested more in how the relationship between how a writer takes material from their surroundings is not far off from how we can sometimes subtly extract from or neglect what’s around us for the sake of a story we’re attached to, rather than existing alongside what’s in front of us.

Matt:The play seems to explore how communities can become frozen in the mythology of a story. Do you think nostalgia is a creative force or a dangerous one?

Lucas: Nostalgia is a sort of lazy act of creation. Though many creative things come out of it, it can be dangerous when we chose it over making something new. The play looks at the consequences of this lethargy of creativity, particularly in John’s insistence at playing classic 80s songs.

Matt:John sounds like a fascinating character a man turned into a kind of literary relic by someone else’s book. Was he inspired by a particular archetype or real figure?

Lucas: Characters for me are always composites of lots of people- I was very entertained by learning about the hustle from the real George Jung (played by Johnny Depp) , Jordan Belford (Leonardo De Caprio) and Kenny Kramer (Michael Richards) following their depictions in Blow, The Wolf of Wallstreet and Seinfeld respectively, each using their depictions in these works for their own personal enterprises.

Matt:The Sequel is a deceptively simple title. Is the play about the sequel to a novel, the sequel to a life, or the sequel to a mistake?

Lucas: I like the idea that the play you will see is the theatrical version of Grace’s new novel which is about her life and the mistake of her debut. The live score from Deniz Dortok emphasises that what you’re seeing is dramatised and expresses the sense of cinema in which characters view their own lives.

Matt:If someone turned your life into a novel, what genre would it be and how would it end?

Lucas: It would be a Children’s Book where I become king as I realise everything that rhymes becomes true.

Matt: When audiences leave the theatre, what do you hope stays with them?

Lucas: The power of the stories we tell and the impact they have on reality.

The Sequel comes to Kings Head Theatre, London on Monday 20th April - Saturday 2nd May 2026. For more information visit: https://kingsheadtheatre.com/whats-on/the-sequel-5tbn

Matt gets Vicious with cursed box movies

2026-03-02T16:13:00.002+00:00

Darkmatters Presents: Top Cursed-Box Movies…

Boxes in horror are irresistible traps, part temptation, part test, part cosmic prank. From brass puzzles that summon demons to strange objects whispering for blood, here’s the Darkmatters Top Cursed-Box Films...

The Box (2009)

Press to kill, collect a cool million.

Richard Kelly (Donnie Darko) takes Richard Matheson’s short story and runs it through a paranoid filter of suburban dread and cosmic punishment. A couple (Cameron Diaz, James Marsden) face a moral dilemma: press the button, kill a stranger, win a fortune. Simple? Not remotely.

It spirals into eerie sci-fi and moral horror. Half Twilight Zone, half government by

Darkmatters verdict: The oddball, freak-out member of the cursed-box family, grotesque and unforgettable.

Rating: ★ ★ ★

The Special (2020)

Pleasure, obsession, and a box with consequences.

Jerry suspects his wife’s cheating, so his mate suggests a night with “The Special.” At a secret brothel, Jerry meets… a box. And whatever’s inside, it changes him in body, mind, soul, and not in a good way.

This low-budget freak-out from B. Harrison Smith is a sleazy, Cronenbergian descent into addiction and flesh-based horror. Both grotesque and grimly funny, it’s the weird cousin of Hellraiser that never got invited to family dinner.

“Every pleasure has its price.”

Darkmatters verdict: The oddball, freak-out member of the cursed-box family — grotesque, unforgettable.

Rating: ★ ★ ★½

The Possession (2012)

The dybbuk box bites back.

A haunted antique bought at a yard sale brings demonic chaos to a fractured family. Based on real-world Jewish folklore, Ole Bornedal’s slick chiller uses the “dybbuk box” myth to explore faith, responsibility, and the things we pass down without understanding.

“This is what you invite when curiosity outweighs fear.”

Darkmatters verdict: A spooky morality tale with real theological texture.

Rating: ★★★½

Hellraiser (1987)

The Lament Configuration is the apex predator of puzzle boxes.

Clive Barker’s masterpiece doesn’t just contain horror; it engineers it. The ornate brass cube promises “ultimate pleasure” but delivers exquisite suffering. Open it, and the Cenobites come part angelic, part demonic, all disturbingly polite about your dismemberment.

It’s the alpha predator of cursed objects: elegant, intelligent, and fatally curious. No film before or since has better captured the allure of forbidden knowledge wrapped in geometry and blood.

“You opened the box. We came.”

Darkmatters verdict: The gold standard, a dark sermon on desire and damnation.

Rating: ★★★★★

>>> Imagine a world where the earth is becoming hell? One man with powers and his robot sidekick might be our only hope...

Click banner below to hear a FREE 5 mins sample of my audiobook which is becoming a graphic novel too)...

The K: or the hum beneath the (reflecting) skin

2026-02-27T12:09:00.001+00:00

The K: or the hum beneath the (reflecting) skin

By Dawn Merriman

Reviewed by Matt (cleric20) Adcock

Reading The K by Dawn Merriman feels less like consuming a thriller and more like being slowly enrolled into one. Do I fear for my sanity after reading it? Absolutely (but then if you know me, you’ll know that’s probably not a new sensation!?)…

Readers get to observe young Jeremiah, who's not exactly normal... and before I realised it, I was uncomfortably adjacent to him. By the final act, I was beginning to understand his internal logic. My lawyer says I have to put ‘not agreeing or endorsing’ in here, but I definitely recognised the terrifying smoothness of it.

Merriman (who must be fun to have a glass of wine or two with) doesn’t bludgeon you with depravity. She gives you a rationalisation. The small permissions. The interior voice sounds disturbingly calm. Evil here isn’t theatrical; it’s more administrative. It kinda explains itself.

There’s a tonal lineage running through the book, I picked up a flicker of Dexter without the winking charm, a touch of American Psycho without the satire, maybe even a trace of Blue (saw this on the big screen last week and it’s still ace), Velvet’s suburban rot but in a stripped form. Here is moral decay under flat Midwestern skies, speaking of film references, if you like The K, then you should check the lesser-known classic The Reflecting Skin (a lesser-seen 1995 cult classic).

But back to The K, this is a master-class in restraint, and that makes it hit harder.

One of the many things that lingered with me is how the book weaponises intimacy. You don’t fear Jeremiah because he’s monstrous. You fear him because he’s coherent. Because you can track the steps. Because the slope is so rational, it almost feels reasonable. *shudder*

Then comes the love story, and it’s here that The K gets crueller.

Victoria isn’t a redemption arc. She’s friction. She introduces hesitation into inevitability. And as a reader, you find yourself wanting, absurdly, for love to matter.

What Merriman explores through her quietly relentless prose (which put me in mind of the masterful Catriona Ward), is the idea that love doesn’t erase darkness. At best, it complicates it. At worst, it becomes a kind of ‘possession’.

This thematic tension is what gives the novel its aftertaste; it’s bitter because this isn’t a “can he be saved?” It’s more a “why do we need him to be?” tale.

The prose itself is cool, controlled, just my twisted cup of tea. This unpacking of a psychological descent made me feel like I was watching corrosion spread across metal in real time. Perhaps the corrosion is in my mind now after reading this?

Thanks Dawn…

As the Sisters of Mercy so eloquently sang, ‘hey now, hey now now – sing this corrosion to me..’.

When I finished the book, I closed it slowly. And sat with the hum in my head.

The K isn’t interested in shock value, although it is shocking. Dawn is more interested, I think, in complicity. You get a dip into the very mind of a monster and asked, “How comfortable are we watching?”

And that sure is unsettling, but I highly recommend you take this trip…

Dawn Merriman

she looks so normal too...

Dawn Merriman writes creepy small-town murder mysteries from her small farm in northeast Indiana, where she lives with her husband and teenage children. You can often find her with muck boots on her feet and a story in her head. She enjoys animals, auctions, snorkeling and archaeology.

Dawn Merriman grew up a small-town farm girl on a small-time pig farm in Indiana. She spent her young adulthood sitting on her bedroom floor scribbling stories in notebooks. She won the "Northeast Indiana Young Writers" award as a sophomore in high school.

After battling severe depression, she wrote her debut novel, "How Murder Saved My Life" as therapy, mixing her love of murder mysteries and farming with climbing out of the darkness of illness.

Out of a potential 5, you have to go with a Darkmatters:

ööööö

(5 - Step this way for some excellently dark, unsettling psychological suspense.)

Find out more about Dawn here

Buy The K here

Read what others are saying about The K here

>>> Imagine a world where the earth is becoming hell? One man with powers and his robot sidekick might be our only hope...

Click banner below to hear a FREE 5 mins sample of my audiobook which is becoming a graphic novel too)...

Hell On Wheels: The Car vs The Car: Road to Revenge

2026-02-11T11:39:00.005+00:00

The Car (1977) vs The Car: Road to Revenge (2019)

M.O.T. carried out by Matt Adcock (@Cleric20)

Sometimes at Darkmatters we ask the important question:

What if the villain… was a car?

Not a metaphorical car.

Not a car representing capitalism, patriarchy or Tottenham’s away form.

Just… a car.

And thus we have two gloriously daft, unexpectedly effective entries in the “vehicular malevolence” subgenre.

The Car

Directed by: Elliot Silverstein

A mysterious matte-black Lincoln Continental begins terrorising a small Utah desert town, running down cyclists, smashing through parades, and generally behaving like Jaws if Spielberg had swapped the shark for a two-ton demon sedan.

Sheriff Wade Parent (James Brolin) tries to stop it. The car has no driver. No motive. No brakes. No soul.

It is never explained. Which is precisely why it works.

It’s basically Jaws on land.

The town. The mounting dread. The sense of something unstoppable lurking just off-screen.

The car itself is shot like a monster — low angles, engine growls, POV shots bearing down on screaming victims. There’s no winking irony. The film commits. Fully. Which makes the absurd premise weirdly effective.

Delightfully blunt dialogue

When asked what it is, one character replies:

“Maybe it’s the Devil.”

No committee meeting. No exposition dump. Just — yeah. Sure. Devil car. Move along.

There’s also the dry Sheriff line:

“That car’s got a driver.”

“Who?”

“The Devil.”

Strengths

• Minimal explanation = maximal menace

• Incredible stunt work (pre-CGI, real cars, real danger)

• Deadpan ‘70s seriousness elevates the silliness

• Desert cinematography gives it mythic weight

Weaknesses

• Third act drags slightly

• Some performances are wooden enough to qualify as roadside fencing

Out of a potential 5, you have to go with a Darkmatters:

ööö

(3 - Lean, mean, and enjoyably ridiculous. Not the classic I was hoping for but absolutely a cult petrol-fume delight..)

My Letterboxd review

Car: Road to Revenge

Directed by: G.J. Echternkamp

A district attorney is murdered and fused with his experimental self-driving car in a neon-soaked dystopian future city. The car returns as a sentient revenge machine, slaughtering the gangsters who killed him. But after getting trashed the car is rebuilt with bit of the original killer car... more mayhem ensues...

Yes. It’s basically Christine by way of low-rent Blade Runner or Johnny Mnemonic.

And it’s greater than it has any right to be!?

Where the original was sun-bleached horror, this is cyberpunk B-movie chaos. Holograms. Corporate corruption. Self-driving AI. Revenge-em-up. Neon reflections on wet asphalt. Bastardised monster car made from parts of BOTH the original and the new one: nice! Cameo from Ronny ‘Robobcop’ Cox from the original film: win!!

It knowingly leans into its B-movie DNA, and that self-awareness gives it, for me, an edge the original didn’t quite have.

Thematically, it’s riffing on tech horror what if your autonomous vehicle decides you deserve judgment?

It has more plot, more lore, more silliness and is more fun.

At one point a character growls:

“You think you can outrun this car?”

Which, frankly, is cinema at its most efficient.

There’s also some wonderfully straight-faced tech babble about AI consciousness that feels like someone dared the script to say “revenge protocol” without laughing.

Strengths

• Cyberpunk aesthetic is surprisingly strong for a low-budget sequel

• Embraces its absurdity

• Revenge structure keeps momentum high

• Fun nods to possessed-car lore… very much in the shadow of Christine (which, yes, still reigns supreme in vehicular horror)

Weaknesses

• Acting occasionally wobbles

• Budget shows in some VFX

Out of a potential 5, you have to go with a Darkmatters:

ööö1/2

(3.5 - It shouldn’t work. Yet it kind of does.
And the cyberpunk twist gives it just enough personality to edge out its predecessor...)

My Letterboxd review

Magnum wasn't loving having to trade in his Ferrari...

Final Thoughts: Devil vs Digital Demon

The Car (1977) plays it straight and becomes unintentionally funny, which paradoxically makes it creepier.

The Car: Road to Revenge plays it pulpy and knowingly silly, which makes it more entertaining.

One is desert dread. One is neon nihilism.

Neither touches the holy combustion engine of Christine (please can we have cyberpunk sequel to that now??) But both deserve a spot in the late-night “cars behaving badly” marathon.

And honestly?

If your Tesla ever starts idling outside your bedroom window at 3am playing Roxette tunes…

Don’t check the app. RUN!

Darkmatters approves vehicular vengeance in moderation.

>>> Imagine a world where the earth is becoming hell? One man with powers and his robot sidekick might be our only hope...

Click banner below to hear a FREE 5 mins sample of my audiobook which is becoming a graphic novel too)...

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Darkmatters Guide

2026-01-19T17:45:00.002+00:00

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Episode 1: “The Hedge Knight”

Darkmatters Blog Review (spoiler-tempered, fire-forged by Matt @Cleric20 Adcock)

The Game of Thrones universe has grown so vast that its edges now fold back upon themselves like wings of a great, burning wyrm, and A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is the newest fractal in that mythic flame. Where its predecessors Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon barbed us with politics and dread, this prequel premieres not with an Iron Throne forged of swords but with a pair of misfits marching straight into the mud and sun of Ashford Meadow.

Episode 1, titled “The Hedge Knight,” opens on a man burying his past and tripping into his future. Ser Duncan the Tall (played with guileless gravity by Peter Claffey) is a towering figure of noble ideals in a world that treats ideals like worn coin. Fresh from the funeral of his mentor, Dunk sets off toward a tournament, not because he thirsts for glory, but because dignity feels like the last decent sword left in his scabbard.

And then there’s Egg (who looks like he's escaped from The Last Airbender) a bald, quick-witted lad who clings to Dunk’s heels like a shadow that knows too much. Their meeting is less destiny and more accident, but as with all great myths, accidents tend to be omens in disguise.

The tone is… odd but brilliant. Not whimsical exactly, Westeros remains a land where fate bites hard but unmoored from the relentless doom of its forebears. This is Game of Thrones without the siege towers, or at least with siege towers replaced by amusement-park-level absurdity: tavern mishaps, tournament pageantry, and a physical comedy cadence that gives Monty Python a polite nod from beyond the grave.

Yet beneath the lightness, there’s grit: swords clash, horses sweat, and the first seeds of legend take root in stubborn soil. Dunk is a knight because he refuses to yield his sense of right, even when life nudges him toward cynicism. Egg’s secret...hinted, not handed to you like a gaudy bauble, promises greater truths to come.

In pure Darkmatters terms: this is Westeros with its armour off, sitting around a tavern fire, eating cold beef, telling each other the same old stories about dragons and king, except this time, the jokes are crude and the humanity is all too close to the bone. It doesn’t roar like wildfire; it simmers like broth on a hearth. Some will call it slow. Some will call it small. But under its modest surface flows the deep, dark river of what it means to be more than a sword in a kingdom that despises the humble.

Series Source Material... Tales of Dunk and Egg: Darkmatters Guide

To truly taste what this show is biting into, you have to crack open the soil of the Dunk & Egg novellas, the narrative bedrock of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. These stories, set nearly a century before Game of Thrones, chronicle the unlikely, unforgettable duo: Ser Duncan the Tall and his young companion Aegon V Targaryen, known as Egg.

The Novellas (Collected as A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms)

The Hedge Knight

The root from which all this sprouted. A hedge knight is a knight in name alone — no lands, no gold, no retinue, just rusted steel and stubborn pride. Dunk shows up at a tourney with hopes bigger than his coin purse, earning laughs, bruises, and an apprentice with secrets that could shake thrones.

The Sworn Sword

After their debut, Dunk and Egg’s path takes them to the turbulent marches between mighty houses. Here honour and duty clash with politics and pride, and our duo learn that vows mean little when the powerful lust for leverage.

The Mystery Knight

A feast of intrigue and betrayal. A wedding tourney becomes the perfect gilded stage for plots both subtle and savage. Old grudges, buried secrets, and unsettling truths about nobility’s appetites come to the fore.

These novellas feel lighter than the dense tomes of A Song of Ice and Fire, but don’t mistake levity for innocence: Martin’s world still bites, bleeds, and burns. Beneath the camaraderie are searing reflections on honour, legacy, and what it costs to be decent in a world that rewards cruelty.

Where the Show Fits in the Larger Mythos

The series unfolds roughly 90–100 years before Game of Thrones... a time when the dragons are gone but their memory still haunts every spire and keep.

Dunk is poised on the threshold of knighthood, Egg harbours a royal secret, and the stakes are human before they are epic.

Future seasons are likely to adapt The Sworn Sword and The Mystery Knight, deepening both the friendship and the political undercurrents that make Westeros bleed.

If Game of Thrones was song, majestic, thunderous, and often tragic, then A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is a ballad: modest, plaintive, but rich with melody and heart.

Out of a potential 5, you have to go with a Darkmatters:

ööööö

(5 - promising and funny where you might expect grimness, and quietly poised to deeply move you.)

>>> Imagine a world where the earth is becoming hell? One man with powers and his robot sidekick might be our only hope...

Click banner below to hear a FREE 5 mins sample of my audiobook which is becoming a graphic novel too)...

Matt finds faith in The Carpenter's Son (review)

2026-01-04T12:17:00.001+00:00

The Carpenter’s Son

Dir. Lotfy Nathan

Reviewed by Matt (@Cleric20) Adcock

Holy dread

Here’s The Carpenter’s Son a film that leans hard into a deliberately unsettling act of theological imagination, one that reaches into the apocrypha, drags out a half-suppressed idea, and asks whether holiness itself might feel like horror when encountered without the cushioning of doctrine and distance.

Set during the Holy Family’s flight and exile, the film frames Joseph, Mary, and their child not as icons but as people living inside a mystery that refuses to behave. Nicolas Cage plays Joseph as a man straining under a responsibility he cannot rationalise, at once protective, bewildered, and quietly terrified. FKA twigs’s Mary is restrained and inward, a presence shaped by contemplation rather than spectacle, carrying a conviction that offers no immunity from fear.

And then there is the boy.

Played with unsettling restraint by Noah Jupe, this is not the glowing child of Christmas cards. This is a Jesus whose emerging power feels unstable; he’s not ‘Brighburn’ malevolent, but his powers are uncontained. The film draws inspiration from the Infancy Gospel of Thomas, a non-canonical second-century text long regarded as troubling precisely because it depicts a young Jesus performing miracles that feel abrupt, even punitive. In director Lotfy Nathan’s hands, this becomes the film’s theological fuse.

There’s a moment in The Carpenter’s Son that quietly explains the entire film.

Joseph fashions a wooden idol, an object of devotion shaped by his own hands. Later, the boy smashes it.

It’s a simple gesture, almost throwaway. But it lands like a theological hammer blow. Because idolatry, at its core, iis about trying to shape God into something manageable, something that fits our expectations, fears, and need for control. And that, more than demons or violence, is the real horror this film is circling.

The Carpenter’s Son is an unusual, often frustrating, sometimes compelling act of religious horror. This is not a film asking whether Jesus is divine. It assumes that he is. The question is far more unsettling:

What happens when divine power appears before it has learned restraint and when the people closest to it try to manage it?

Despite its apocryphal roots, The Carpenter’s Son is surprisingly orthodox in its fundamentals. The Nativity unfolds in a stable, recognisably drawn from Luke’s Gospel. Joseph receives angelic warning dreams that send the family fleeing to Egypt to escape Herod’s slaughter. Years later, Joseph doubts his own memory, but the film never implies these events are imaginary or symbolic. They are presented as real, grounding the story firmly within biblical history rather than alternative myth.

Likewise, Jesus experiences visions of his future: crucifixion, death, and resurrection. These aren’t framed as metaphors or psychological delusions. We’re invited to accept them as genuine foreknowledge. Destiny is not in question here, only how one lives while waiting for it.

This grounding matters, because it shapes the film’s approach to evil.

The Stranger (Satan) is played with earnest heart by Isla Johnston. She’s not a trickster abstraction or ironic metaphor, but a fallen spiritual being, clearly evil, clearly opposed to God, and clearly doomed. There’s no ambiguity about that and no invitation to sympathise with it.

What is interesting is its motivation.

This Satan isn’t trying to win a cosmic war. It knows how that story ends. Instead, it is driven by resentment, a desire to drag Jesus down to its own level, to infect him with the same bitterness and hatred it feels toward humanity. The goal is not domination, but corruption: to convince Jesus that people deserve punishment rather than mercy, and that power should be exercised through retribution.

There’s a faint echo of gnostic thinking in Satan’s rhetoric, talk of liberating humanity from flesh, of transcendence through rejection of the material world, but crucially, the film never endorses this. That worldview is presented as perverse, deforming, and spiritually dead. Matter is not the enemy here. Creation is not a mistake. The problem is resentment.

In that sense, Satan functions as a dark mirror, not just of what Jesus could become if he abandoned compassion, but of what humans become when they define themselves by grievance.

One of the film’s most theologically confident moves is also its biggest problem (as a horror film at least).

Whenever Jesus confronts evil spirits, he succeeds. They cannot resist him. His authority is innate and unquestioned. The danger Satan poses is not physical or existential, but moral.

This creates an intrinsic limitation on dread. We know where this story is going. We know Jesus will not fall. The film never seriously threatens the biblical arc, and because of that, Satan never quite feels like a source of catastrophic danger.

There’s a version of The Carpenter’s Son that might have generated far more terror by declaring early on that “all bets are off,” that this is a radical reimagining unconstrained by Scripture. That film would have been far more blasphemous but far more frightening.

Nathan doesn’t make that film. Instead, he chooses theological seriousness over horror maximalism. The result is a movie with moments of brutality (Roman tortures are depicted with stomach-turning cruelty) and some, mostly snake-induced, jump scares, but not enough to satisfy adrenaline junkies, and not enough sustained dread to rival slow-burn nightmares like Hereditary.

Where the film does generate genuine unease is through Joseph.

Nicolas Cage plays him as a man caught between devotion and fear, sincerity and control. Early on, he’s relatable: a father trying to protect his family, provide stability, and raise a son who frightens him precisely because he cannot fully understand him.

But as the film progresses, Joseph hardens. His faith becomes rigid. His protectiveness curdles into coercion. He tries to shape Jesus into something safe, contained, predictable, an idol rather than a mystery.

This is where the film’s most potent theme emerges. Joseph’s desire to control his son mirrors humanity’s desire to control God. When Jesus resists being shaped, Joseph responds with anger. When the idol shatters, Joseph lashes out.

The tragedy is that the film doesn’t quite give this arc enough room to breathe. We see Joseph become unpleasant, even cruel, but we don’t always feel the weight of the pressures driving him there. A version of the film told more squarely from Joseph’s perspective would have been bolder.

Instead, the narrative oscillates between Joseph’s story and Jesus’ “origin” story, diluting the emotional force of both.

Running quietly beneath all this is another recognisably biblical tension: law versus mercy.

Jesus shows instinctive compassion for those deemed impure… You know: lepers, the crucified, the outcast. He moves toward suffering rather than away from it. This places him at odds with the rigid purity concerns of his world, and increasingly at odds with Joseph’s fear-driven religiosity.

It’s a subtle but important thread. The film understands that Jesus’ ministry is not a rejection of holiness, but a redefinition of it, one rooted in proximity rather than separation.

As a horror film, The Carpenter’s Son is uneven. It lacks the raw terror to fully satisfy genre purists, and its tonal indecision blunts its sharpest edges.

As a theological provocation, it’s far more interesting.

This is a film about idolatry, not golden calves, but mental images of God we cling to because they reassure us. It’s about how easily faith becomes control, how quickly devotion curdles into resentment when God refuses to behave as expected.

And in its best moments, it reminds us that the most frightening thing isn’t demons, or Satan, or prophecy but the possibility that we might prefer an idol we can control to a God who refuses to be shaped by our hands.

Out of a potential 5, you have to go with a Darkmatters:

ööö1/2

(3.5 - It may not be a great horror film. But it is a God-haunted one.)

>>> Imagine a world where the earth is becoming hell? One man with powers and his robot sidekick might be our only hope...

Click banner below to hear a FREE 5 mins sample of my audiobook which is becoming a graphic novel too)...

Matt's Top Ten Films of 2025

2025-12-27T20:57:00.001+00:00

Here are my favourite films of the year...

Weapons (Zach Cregger)

Cregger follows Barbarian by going bigger, darker and more structurally unhinged, folding multiple disappearances, small-town rot and a creeping sense of moral contagion into something that plays like a cursed multi-viewpoint fairy tale. Weapons understands that the scariest thing isn’t the monster (altho she is pretty fearsome) but the community that quietly reorganises itself around trauma. Precision-made dread, bleakly funny in places, and proof that Cregger is now operating as a full-on American horror architect rather than a one-hit disruptor. Some of the crowd I saw this with at the cinema were standing and cheering at the climax, that's such a rush!

One Battle After Another (Paul Thomas Anderson)

PTA goes muscular and mischievous here, shaping a post-idealism America haunted by its own protest movements and ideological aftershocks. Looser than Phantom Thread but more focused than Inherent Vice, this feels like Anderson riffing on history as a looping argument rather than a straight line. There’s sweat, humour, and a low hum of paranoia beneath the talk, a film that knows revolutions don’t end, they just change fonts. And the cinematography is some of the best ever!?

Sinners (Ryan Coogler)

Coogler’s first outright genre pivot lands as a blood-soaked Southern Gothic with teeth and intent. Vampirism here isn’t sexy immortality but inheritance (think sin passed down, monetised, ritualised). Anchored by Michael B. Jordan in dual roles, Sinners fuses horror with blues history, racial memory and the idea that America never really lets anything die. Lush, angry, and mythic in the best way, saw this in IMAX and it blew my mind!

Bring Her Back (Danny & Michael Philippou)

The Talk To Me duo double down on grief-horror, crafting something meaner, sadder and more intimate. This isn’t about jump scares so much as the unbearable desire to undo a single moment. The brothers show a growing confidence in letting scenes rot in silence, and when the violence comes it feels earned and oh boy, that scene with the melon knife is one that will never leave you... Bring Her Back is a film that understands mourning as a kind of possession, one you invite in yourself, not for the faint of heart.

The Ballad of Wallis Island (James Griffiths)

Gentle, funny and unexpectedly bruising, this feels like a folk song discovered on an old hard drive, and instead of sucking, they take you places you didn't expect. Built around loneliness, fading friendships and the strange ache of unrealised lives, this film sneaks up on you with warmth before quietly breaking your heart. There’s a distinctly British melancholy here, rain, memory, missed chances, handled with such lightness you barely notice how deep it cuts. Plus Carey Mulligan is still my fantasy woman :)

F1 (Joseph Kosinski)

Do you feel the need? The need for speed... Only on four wheels rather than in the air!? Kosinski does for Formula One what he did for fighter jets: strips away the gloss to reveal the terrifying ballet underneath. Shot with punishing immediacy and physicality, this is less sports movie and more controlled experiment in speed, risk and ego. Brad Pitt’s ageing racer isn’t chasing glory so much as relevance, and the film understands that velocity is addictive precisely because it’s unsustainable. Big, loud, and surprisingly reflective.

The Phoenician Scheme (Wes Anderson)

Anderson’s espionage fantasia plays like a diorama stuffed with double-crosses, deadpan assassins and emotional repression rendered in pastel. Beneath the symmetry and whimsy is a story about legacy, trust and the absurdity of inherited power. Benicio del Toro grounds the film with unexpected weariness, reminding us that Anderson’s brilliant dollhouse worlds increasingly function as mausoleums for broken men. But they are oh-so-much-fun!!

Bugonia (Yorgos Lanthimos)

Lanthimos remakes the Korean cult oddity Save the Green Planet! and leans fully into conspiracy as emotional illness. Wildly funny, deeply uncomfortable, and shot with clinical indifference, Bugonia asks whether believing the world is fake is any worse than accepting its cruelty as normal. Emma Stone continues her fearless collaboration with Lanthimos, operating at the edge of satire and collapse. One guy fainted in the screening of this I saw, hope he's ok (and has the chance to catch the ending as the answer to 'is she an alien' does get answered!!

Eddington (Ari Aster)

Aster’s COVID-era Western is his angriest film yet, a portrait of a town atomised by misinformation, masculinity and performative morality. Less horror in the traditional sense, more social exorcism, Eddington is deliberately abrasive, often hilarious, and deeply unsettling in how recognisable it feels. Joaquin Phoenix is a walking wound of authority and resentment, and Aster refuses the comfort of catharsis.

The Order (Justin Kurzel)

Kurzel returns to extremist psychology with grim focus, charting the rise of a white supremacist terror cell with procedural coldness and moral clarity. Jude Law and Nicholas Hoult turn the film into a duel of belief versus obsession, and Kurzel resists sensationalism at every turn. This is not a thriller designed to entertain but to warn — violence shown as banal, contagious and terrifyingly organised.

- - -

Full disclosure I haven't seen Marty Supreme or Sentimental Value, both of which I have a strong feeling might have made it into my top ten!?

CHECK OUT MY 2024 TOP TEN

CHECK OUT MY 2023 TOP TEN

>>> Imagine a world where the earth is becoming hell?

Click banner below to hear a FREE 5 mins sample of my audiobook which is becoming a graphic novel too)...

Pluribus review / guide - new scifi happiness

2025-11-07T12:07:00.003+00:00

Pluribus (Apple TV+)

Review / guide by Matt (@cleric20) Adcock

Just when you thought TV had got safe, Vince Gilligan is back and he’s brought the end of human authenticity with him. Pluribus, Apple TV’s new flagship sci-fi drama, opens not with a bang but with an unnervingly serene smile. Across Albuquerque, people are just a little too happy. It’s the kind of world where your neighbour waves at you for too long, and the local news signs off with a grin that won’t fade.

Enter Carol Sturka (Rhea ‘Better Call Saul’ Seehorn), a best-selling romance novelist who is, deliciously, “the most miserable person on Earth.” While everyone else is busy basking in newfound joy, Carol’s having none of it. She’s hollow, cynical, sharp — and crucially, immune to the mysterious wave of euphoric contagion sweeping humanity.

The episode’s opening ten minutes are a minor masterclass in tone. A sun-bleached diner, a radio DJ announcing that happiness levels have reached “record highs,” and a slow pan to a woman methodically licking a donut before putting it back in the box. It’s absurd, funny, grotesque and perfectly Gilligan.

The title isn’t subtle. Pluribus (Latin for “many,” as in E Pluribus Unum) evokes the collective, the idea that unity through conformity might just crush individuality. Episode 1 plays with this tension beautifully.

The premise: a new condition, part mental ‘glue’, part spiritual awakening, is spreading. It makes people radiantly optimistic and relentlessly cooperative. Crime vanishes. Depression disappears. Governments praise it as the dawn of a new humanity. And yet Carol sees only the rot beneath the smile.

Gilligan shoots her loneliness in harsh daylight, wide shots of her trudging through crowds of blissful citizens, the only frown for miles. She looks like a glitch in a utopian simulation.

Rhea Seehorn carries the episode with controlled weariness. Her Carol is brittle, intelligent, and visibly allergic to the enforced good vibes. There’s a moment where her publicist (a perfectly oily supporting turn from Carlos Manuel Vesga) tells her, “You could sell more books if you just smiled in photos.” Carol’s dry retort: “Maybe you could read more if you stopped smiling all the time” - lands like a prayer for everyone still clinging to emotional honesty.

“Happiness is the new herd immunity.”

Science fiction has long explored emotion as contagion, think The Stepford Wives, Smile, or Black Mirror’s Nosedive. But Pluribus takes that metaphor and runs it through Gilligan’s moral lens. Happiness here is institutionalised. Clinics hand out “optimism boosters.” Street billboards flash with slogans like “It’s your choice - be happy!”

The result feels like a spiritual sequel to Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul but instead of meth or moral decay, the drug is contentment itself. As one background voice on a news broadcast says:

“Happiness is the new herd immunity.”

For those of us who watch with an eye for deeper meaning, Pluribus might be Gilligan’s most explicitly theological work yet. The idea of a world that worships false joy echoes ancient warnings against idols … the golden calves of comfort and self-satisfaction.

Carol’s immunity feels almost prophetic. She’s the lone dissenting spirit in a culture that has mistaken chemical calm for salvation. There’s an echo of Jeremiah here, lamenting while everyone else throws festivals.

It’s rich ground for reflection which is exactly the kind of moral discomfort Gilligan excels at.

Visually, the show is stunning. Albuquerque’s deserts are rendered in eerie pastel hues, giving it a slightly ‘off’ vibe, like the world’s been lightly Photoshopped. Director Michelle MacLaren (also Breaking Bad veteran) frames scenes with surgical precision, keeping Carol just slightly off-centre, always an outsider.

Composer Dave Porter returns too, with a score that oscillates between lullaby and dread. It’s a soundscape of enforced calm elevator music that wants you to relax but leaves you itching instead.

Out of a potential 5, you have to go with a Darkmatters:

ööööö

(5 - Pluribus is an elegant, slow-burning provocation...equal parts Black Mirror, Better Call Saul, and Brave New World. It’s not action-packed, but it hums with intelligence. Gilligan is clearly working at full creative power again, and Seehorn is mesmerising.)

>>> Imagine a world where the earth is becoming hell? One man with powers and his robot sidekick might be our only hope...

Click banner below to hear a FREE 5 mins sample of my audiobook which is becoming a graphic novel too)...

Tom's Crossing (Mark Z. Danielewski) REVIEW

2025-10-27T19:01:00.004+00:00

TOM’S CROSSING

By Mark Z. Danielewski

Review by Matt Adcock (@Cleric20)

Twenty-five years after House of Leaves delivered a nuclear strike on readers’ brains, Mark Z. Danielewski rides back into view with Tom’s Crossing and death rides with him.

Set in Utah, 1982, this 1,232-page beast follows two teenage outcasts, namely Kalin March and Tom Gatestone, whose friendship ignites a small-town legend. When Tom dies young, Kalin swears to save the two horses his friend loved most from being slaughtered by local meat baron Orwin ‘Old’ Porch.

What starts as a rescue mission becomes something far bigger. This is the tale of a manhunt, a myth, a reckoning where the living and the dead both have unfinished business.

You know when a book grabs you from the first page and grips you, takes over your waking thoughts and makes you count down the minutes until you dive back in? Well that's what Tom's Crossing did to me!!

Tom’s Crossing trades basements for mountains, ink for dust, and typeface trickery for something rawer and more universal. Sentences roll like thunder, break into whispers, double back on themselves.

There’s a new kind of terror, too; it’s not the creeping dread of House of Leaves, but the fear invoked by the brutality of human rage and consequence. Old Porch, furious and armed, becomes an avatar of everything toxic in power and patriarchy. He’s a villain as Biblical as he is believable, a man so desperate to maintain control he will do unthinkable things and blame the kids who fled with his horses.

By the time Kalin and Tom’s sister Landry, reach the high pass of Pillars Meadow, the novel has transcended the western and turned mythic. You could say it’s part Iliad, part Blood Meridian, part ghost-lit American scripture.

For fans of House of Leaves, (as we are at Darkmatters) Tom’s Crossing is a revelation. Reality and myth burn through the lens of how memory ‘bends’ truth, leaving stories of the dead.

It’s sprawling, gorgeous, probably longer than it needs to be, but isn’t that part of the point? Every legend worth the name has room for exaggeration.

Tom’s Crossing is a singular, howling achievement, what feels like a million pages scrawled by a poet of the uncanny. It’s violent, lyrical, and unafraid of its own bigness. This is Danielewski burning a new trail, through blood, bone, and the language of the American myth.

By the end, I felt haunted, exhilarated, and strangely grateful that House of Leaves wasn’t a fluke.

An epic of grief, friendship, and redemption that dares to find ghosts not in walls, but in wide open sky.

Out of a potential 5, you have to go with a Darkmatters:

ööööö

(5 - A blood-soaked miracle of storytelling… this is the Western reimagined as an elegy for both the living and the dead.)

>>> Imagine a world where the earth is becoming hell? One man with powers and his robot sidekick might be our only hope...

Click banner below to hear a FREE 5 mins sample of my audiobook which is becoming a graphic novel too)...

Matt lives The Life of a Showgirl (review)

2025-10-04T22:37:00.004+01:00

Taylor Swift:

The Life of a Showgirl

By Matt (@Cleric20) Adcock

It starts with static.

Not silence, static, like the sound of old Hollywood trying to reboot itself on a dying hard drive.

Then comes the hum.

A synth shiver, a breath that feels half-human, half-machine. And then: Taylor.

Not the wide-eyed ingénue. Not the cardigan poet.

This time, she strides onto the virtual stage as something other.

A cyber goddess in sequins, transmitting heartbreak across the grid.

This album feels like watching fame eat itself in slow motion, neon fangs and digital mascara, but Taylor doesn’t flinch. She conducts the whole shimmering disaster with a flick of her hand. The Life of a Showgirl is a concept album disguised as a pop record, a fever-dream manifesto about identity, illusion, and the cost of being adored.

It’s an album that wants you to dance but also to look at what’s twitching under the glitter.

There’s a line (in “Wi$hli$t”) that caught me sideways:

“We tell the world to leave us the fuck alone, and they do.”

That’s the thesis right there.

Swift has always been meta, but here she’s radioactive. She’s uploading memories into melody, weaponising charm, rewriting the firmware of femininity under pressure.

The Songs That Glitch Beautifully

“Wi$hli$t” is the purest heartbreak code, a twilight lament whispered into the circuitry of longing and playfully taking down those vibing life’s superficial desires…

“Elizabeth Taylor” isn’t just a song, it’s a séance. She channels the old-world glamour ghost like it’s living inside her bloodstream fame as both mirror and curse. When the beat drops, you can almost hear diamonds cracking.

And “Honey” … oh God. It’s narcotic, dangerous, sticky with desire and self-awareness. It could be a love song or a weapon. Maybe both. The sweetness turns venomous, it’s a reflection that’s been selling her to the world.

Taylor’s production team have made this thing sound like a memory you shouldn’t have access to: a sleek pop one moment, distorted VHS playback the next. It’s Blade Runner Barbie filtered through Black Mirror, scored by the ghosts of disco balls past.

There’s no filler, just confessions in chrome, sighs encoded in reverb. Even when she falters, it feels intentional, like she’s daring the façade to crack.

The Life of a Showgirl will mesmerize you and burn a Taylor-shaped silhouette onto your neural interface and leave you wondering if any of it was real.

By the time the final track fades, you half expect her to wink and dissolve into pixels.

Because that’s the trick, isn’t it?

The real Taylor Swift doesn’t exist anymore.

She’s still touring in 2242 - check my Complete Darkness comic 😀

Lakes International Comic Art Festival – A Day Of Highlights

2025-09-29T17:17:00.002+01:00

Lakes International Comic Art Festival – A Day Of Highlights

Matt Adcock (@Cleric20)

What a cracking start to this year’s Lakes International Comic Art Festival! From razor-sharp editing wisdom to riotous political cartooning, the first day had a bit of everything – and set the bar high for the weekend ahead.

The LICAF kicked off with an international rights fair – bringing together buyers of comics, the acquisition editors from foreign publishers, with publishers wishing to sell rights to comics, who discuss and negotiate possibilities and terms – leading to the buyer translating, publishing and distributing these comics in their own language/country or countries.

The Rights Market featured several buyers, drawn from across Europe who the Festival identified, with expert help, as ripe for buying British comics.

https://licaf-rights-market.com/

Shelly Bond: Ten True Editing Crimes & How to Avoid Them

Kicking things off in The Other Space marquee was none other than Shelly Bond – legendary editor and creative powerhouse. With three decades of experience and more red ink than a stationery cupboard, she pulled no punches in sharing the dos and don’ts of comic editing. This was more than just a “how-to” session; it was a witty, energising masterclass on the alchemy between words and pictures. Whether you’re polishing your own scripts or wrangling artists and writers, Shelly’s insights landed like gold dust.

You Couldn’t Make It Up!

As evening fell, the Old Laundry Theatre became a hotbed of satire, quick-fire creativity, and belly laughs. Tim Farron MP gave a great welcome, then hosted by Bill Morrison (yes, The Simpsons’ Bill Morrison!), this live-draw extravaganza pulled in a world-class line-up: Viz icons Graham Dury and Simon Thorp, Iceland’s wonderfully dark Dagsson, Morocco’s sharp and stylish Mehdi Annassi, Finland’s satirical maestro Pertti Jarla, and more. The speed, wit, and sheer daftness of it all reminded everyone why cartooning is such a vital – and hilarious – form of protest and play.

Then came the incomparable Martin Rowson with his brand-new show Trumped. Equal parts savage satire, radical analysis, and gleeful rant, Rowson drew on four decades of frontline cartooning to give us the surreal, food-splattered spectacle we didn’t know we needed. Expect the unexpected? Absolutely. And he delivered in spades.

The night rounded off with the LICAF Awards Ceremony, complete with the prestigious Sergio Aragonés International Award for Excellence in Comic Art – a fitting celebration of talent, imagination, and the global reach of comics.

Lorenzo Mattotti was announced as the winner of the Sergio Aragonés International Award for Excellence in Comic Art and presented with the award.

The Sergio Aragonés International Award for Excellence in Comic Art, named after the world-famous cartoonist, best known for his work on MAD and as co-creator of Groo, was established in 2017 by The National Cartoonists Society, the world’s largest and most prestigious organisation of professional cartoonists, in partnership with the Lakes International Comic Art Festival, and is presented annually to an exceptional comic artist, animator, or cartoonist.

Lorenzo Mattotti is an Italian-born, Paris-based cartoonist and illustrator. He has published numerous books, including Fires (1986), Caboto (1992), and Stigmate(1998). He illustrated The Raven by Lou Reed (2011).

His graphic novel version of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde (with Jerry Kramsky) won an Eisner Award in 2003. He is also a prolific illustrator for publications such as The New Yorker, Vogue, and Vanity Fair.

What a day…

Day one of LICAF wasn’t just a warm-up: it was a statement of intent. Sharp, funny, inspiring, and gloriously unpredictable, it reminded us all why comics matter… they entertain, they challenge, and they bring people together. I was gutted not to be able to be there for the rest of the weekend but comic creating pals fed back that it was an absolute treat.

I was also incredibly impressed with LICAF’s “From Palestine” project, that saw the launch of three new comics by artists from Gaza, published by LICAF, following up on the previous publication of the highly acclaimed collection of cartoons, Safaa and the Tent, by Safaa Odah, translated by Nada Hodali.

All four titles were on sale at the Festival and all profits from the sale of these works went go to the creators.

Palestinian cartoonist and caricaturist Mohammad Sabaaneh, an active member in the Cartoon Movement, will be launching his book, 30 Seconds from Gaza, in English, at a special event over the weekend that will also see the launch of the Qusasat comics anthology, Strategies of Surviving by Abod Nasser and Waiting Rituals by Khaled Jarada.

Here's to 2026!! https://www.comicartfestival.com/

>>> Imagine a world where the earth is becoming hell? One man with powers and his robot sidekick might be our only hope...

Click banner below to hear a FREE 5 mins sample of my audiobook which is becoming a graphic novel too)...

ALIEN EARTH - episode one reaction & guide

2025-08-13T13:28:00.007+01:00

ALIEN: EARTH – EPISODE ONE “NEVERLAND”

A darkly delicious prequel that brings the Xenomorph home...

Matt 'Cleric20' Adcock

Here at Darkmatters, we’ve been excited for Alien: Earth ever since it was announced that Noah Hawley, yep, the genius behind Fargo, would be steering this ship. Hawley’s talent for blending character depth, genre thrills, and thematic bite made him the perfect choice to crack open a fresh corner of the Alien universe. Episode one, Neverland, not only delivers... it drags you in, straps you down, and whispers corporate-approved nightmares in your ear.

SETTING THE SCENE

It’s 2120, just two years before Ripley’s ill-fated encounter aboard the Nostromo. A deep-space research vessel, the USCSS Maginot, has been on a staggering 65-year mission gathering alien specimens, including the ever-loving facehuggers. The ship’s return to Earth should be a moment of triumph… but this is the Alien universe, and triumph rarely survives first contact.

On Earth, the Prodigy Corporation has been busy. Their “Neverland” facility isn’t a playground, it’s a synthetic hybrid research lab, where terminally ill children have their consciousness transferred into adult synthetic bodies. Our way into this unsettling premise is Marcy, reborn as Wendy, who now watches over the other so-called “Lost Boys.” The Peter Pan reference isn’t subtle, but it’s smart... this isn’t about eternal youth, it’s about what you lose when you can’t grow old at all.

"it's behind you..."

WHEN IT ALL GOES TO HELL

The Maginot’s navigation fails, sending it plummeting into the corporate sprawl of New Siam. Cargo breaches, specimens escape, and yes: the Xenomorph makes its grand, blood-slick entrance. In the chaos, Wendy’s brother Joe Hermit, a medic, is forced into survival mode. The tension here is Hawley at his best, with character stakes first, then the carnage.

WHAT MAKES IT CYBERPUNK

Corporate Dystopia – Alien: Earth keeps Weyland-Yutani in the mix but introduces Prodigy Corp as a worthy rival. Both are chasing immortality through biotech, with human lives as expendable test data.

Identity Crisis – Wendy’s existence asks the question: is consciousness in a synthetic shell still “you”? And if so, what happens when you see your own humanity being slowly overwritten?

Peter Pan with Teeth – The Lost Boys allusion adds a strangely emotional undercurrent to the horror, this is about arrested development in the most chilling sense.

Classic Horror DNA – The production design is gloriously analogue, the shadows deep and dangerous, the sound design sharp enough to make you flinch. It feels like it belongs alongside Alien (1979) and Aliens (1986), but with its own philosophical edge.

"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain..."

THE VERDICT SO FAR

Critics have been quick to heap praise: Rotten Tomatoes is sitting pretty at 93%, Metacritic at 84/100, with many calling it one of the strongest pilot episodes in years. Sydney Chandler’s Wendy is the standout—a perfect mix of vulnerability and quiet menace. Some reviews have noted pacing wobbles and undercooked side characters, but honestly, that’s splitting hairs when the world-building and atmosphere are this strong.

For us at Darkmatters, Neverland feels like exactly the kind of bold, creepy, big-brain sci-fi we want from an Alien prequel. Hawley’s Fargo knack for weaving human frailty into violent chaos is all over this, and it works beautifully.

LOOKING AHEAD

Episode one leaves us with delicious questions:

Can Wendy keep her humanity, or will the machine win?

How far will Prodigy and Weyland-Yutani go in their arms race for immortality?

And just how many alien nightmares can Hawley serve before the season ends?

Out of a potential 5, you have to go with a Darkmatters:

ööööö

(5 - In space people will hear you scream 'this is an excellent start!')

>>> Imagine a world where the earth is becoming hell? One man with powers and his robot sidekick might be our only hope...

Click banner below to hear a FREE 5 mins sample of my audiobook which is becoming a graphic novel too)...

Matt reports on Cyberside: Second Simulation

2025-07-20T17:45:00.001+01:00

MISSION REPORT / CYBERSIDE: SECOND SIMULATION

Filed by: Matt 'Cleric20' Adcock: “Taciturn”
Clearance: Black Level / No External Transmission
Date: 20.07.25
Subject: Review & Threat Analysis...Cyberside: Second Simulation
Authors: Aleksey Savchenko & Bert Jennings

Cyberside is not just a story. It’s a simulation wrapped in a cover story, encoded in print. What starts as a bounty-hunting op turns into a theological cyberpunk spiral through the corrupted code of a post-reality society. Set in a digital fallback world created after physical collapse, this novel is a high-stakes infiltration into what happens when identity, morality, and memory are all up for rewriting.

I loved this cyberpunk thrill ride so much I bought the comic and prequel too!?

CORE INTEL: SUBJECT BREAKDOWN

Primary Operative: James Reynolds, a “Taciturn.” A professional killer. Minimal chatter. Maximum efficiency. Ex-engineer. A man who’s made peace with being alone in a world run on ghosts and code. Think noir detective re-skinned for a neural interface.

Primary Target: Matilda, classified as a “Scry.” She sees beneath the surface of Cyberside. Dangerous not because she kills, but because she understands. She sees you, sees the rot in the system, sees what Cyberside used to be.

“The body is obsolete. Memory is currency. And reality can be rewritten.”
(Matilda, during initial contact sequence)

Setting: The Cyberside once a utopian simulation built by Fall Water Lake Studios. Now fragmented. Reality glitching. Each zone holds its own logic, its own dangers. Rules of physics are mutable. Identity is unstable. Borders are dissolving.

THE CONSPIRACY UNPACKED

Cyberside is not just a retreat. It’s a prison.
Built by Fall Water Lake as humanity’s digital escape hatch, Cyberside became a corporate asset, then a corrupted relic. Somewhere between idealism and collapse, something crawled into the core code.

The 'Second Simulation' is real and it's awake.
The titular "Second Simulation" is a sentient fragment of the original Cyberside architecture and it’s evolving. It’s rewriting reality from the inside. Not AI. Not human. Something in-between. Matilda may be a part of it or its prophet. Or both.

The hunters are being hunted.
Reynolds is sent in to erase Matilda, but the deeper he goes, the more he realises the operation isn’t clean. Fall Water Lake may have sent him, but they’re no longer in charge. Old kill orders persist long after the war is over. Reynolds isn’t just chasing shadows. He is one.

MISSION EVALUATION

Pacing & Prose:
Tight. Cinematic. Reads like a slick infiltration op. Dialogue is lean... characters speak only when it matters. Everything else is internal monologue, tactical descriptions, or eerie code glitches.

Atmosphere:
Perfect balance of ghost-in-the-machine dread and hard-boiled noir. Every scene hums with the tension of a system breaking down. Picture Blade Runner 2049 crossfaded with Ghost in the Shell, then filtered through a broken VR headset.

Character Work:
Reynolds is the embodiment of professional detachment, until Matilda forces him to confront not just her humanity, but his own. The emotional arc is slow-burn, like a neural fuse lighting up a cold heart.

Themes:

What is real when everything is virtual?
Can a soul be simulated?
What is a memory if it can be bought or erased?

RECOMMENDATION

For operatives who enjoyed Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash, Richard K. Morgan’s Altered Carbon, or the melancholic code-twisting of The Matrix Reloaded, yes, Cyberside: Second Simulation is a worthy upload.

Don’t read it. Sync with it.

Who is Aleksey Savchenko?

Over the last 25+ years, game development veteran, futurist, author and BAFTA member Aleksey Savchenko has built a respected and influential career in the entertainment and tech industries. He is currently Director of R&D, Technology and External Resources at GSC Game World, where he has been instrumental in launching major titles including S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2. He has held key roles at Epic Games and Black Wing Foundation, and worked on projects for Disney, Warner Brothers, Square Enix, 2K, Gearbox, and 505 Games. He is the author of Game as Business, numerous industry white papers, and the Cyberside series. Born in Ukraine, Aleksey supported military and humanitarian efforts after the 2022 invasion and is now based in the UK.

Who is Bert Jennings?

Bert Jennings is a writer, narrative designer, and producer with over a decade of experience in the video game and entertainment industries. He currently serves as Narrative Director at Turn Me Up Games, where he has worked since 2016, leading storytelling development across multiple titles. Prior to that, he held the role of Producer at the studio, overseeing internal IP development from concept to completion. His background includes three years as Executive Assistant at Stereo D (a division of SDFX Studios), where he supported senior leadership and facilitated cross-departmental production across animation, development, and facility operations. Earlier in his career, Bert was an Assistant Producer at TopWare Interactive, contributing to multiple game launches between 2007 and 2010. He is the co-author of Cyberside: Second Simulation, where his background in game design and narrative development helped shape the book’s immersive world-building and character-driven storytelling. He is based in Los Angeles, California.

Out of a potential 5, you have to go with a Darkmatters:

ööööö

(5 - Memory locked, target tagged, reality destabilised....)

Will be asking Aleskey to be a guest on HOST IN THE SHELL cyberpunk podcast season III

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/234973529-cyberside

Purchase Link: https://mybook.to/cybersidess-zbt

This post comes to you from the cool and sassy https://zooloosbooktours.co.uk/

>>> Imagine a world where the earth is becoming hell?

Click banner below to hear a FREE 5 mins sample of my audiobook which is becoming a graphic novel too)...

THE GiX LOGS - Observations From The Future

2025-06-14T14:27:00.001+01:00

THE GiX LOGS

by Matt Adcock

Dave Keech Interview Americanology and More

2025-05-22T11:29:00.004+01:00

Americanology with Dave Keech

AMERICANOLOGY is a deep-groove jazz track infused with soul, featuring the powerhouse vocals of Andre Espeut and a stellar lineup of the UK’s most progressive and creative jazz musicians, including Binker Golding, Rob Luft, Nikolaj Torp Larsen, Nim Sadot, and Corrie Dick. The track blends jazz musicianship with classic soul, making it equally at home on jazz playlists and dance floors.

AMERICANOLOGY is the lead single from Dave Keech’s upcoming 5-track EP, Tokyo, set for release in autumn 2025. The EP showcases Dave’s big, expressive trombone sound and soulful phrasing, with original compositions interpreted by some of the UK’s most innovative jazz musicians.

To hear the excellent single 'Americanology' click here:

https://orcd.co/1wkokyw

I had a sneak listen to the next single BLOOD and it's every bit as awesome as the first (if not even better!!)...

To pre-save the forthcoming single 'Blood' out 25th July:

https://orcd.co/dpa27pr

I had the chance to ask Dave some Q's - here's what the man has to say:

Matt: I heard that you started playing trombone at twelve, inspired by your grandfather. Did he also warn you it would lead to a life of late nights, smoky rooms, and explaining to airport security why you’re carrying a brass bazooka?

Dave: He did not. My grandfather was a strict brass bandsman — almost more classical than the classical crowd. Discipline, posture, rigour — that was the world I stepped into at twelve. He probably wouldn’t have approved of me veering off into jazz, but he taught me how to be serious about the instrument, and that mattered. There’s a story that sticks with me: once, he went to a brass instrument exhibition and happened to see Louis Armstrong there, who must've been on tour in the UK — testing out a trumpet. Granddad listened, shrugged, and said, “Didn’t think much to it.” That tells you everything about his taste and temperament! I didn’t exactly follow in his footsteps — but I wouldn’t have found my own path without him.

Matt: You studied under Sir Eduardo Paolozzi does sculpting with metal and wielding a trombone feel like two sides of the same artistic rebellion, or is one just significantly louder?

Dave: They’re definitely two sides of the same thing - and they’re both loud in their own way. Paolozzi was a dear friend and mentor. He taught me so much about creativity, about following instinct, and about the joy of making. He also loved jazz. His work feels like an endless improvisation - a kind of hymn to the 20th century and everything it meant, from machines to movies. That spirit - of assembling, layering, experimenting - is what I hear in jazz too. We spent many happy hours together listening to jazz. It’s all part of the same impulse, really. Paolozzi and jazz just speak different dialects of the same language.

Matt: Touring with Ray Gelato’s ‘Giants’ must have been wild what’s the most surreal moment you’ve had on stage… and does it beat playing Carnegie Hall with Lionel Hampton and Roberta Flack?

Dave: Well, yes - being on stage at Carnegie Hall New York with Ray Gelato’s band, sharing the bill with Lionel Hampton and Roberta Flack, was surreal in all the right ways. That’s a lifetime highlight.

But then again… there was Finland. We were doing a late-night jam after a festival — somewhere in Finland or Norway — when a very drunk guy got up and started causing chaos. The pianist lost patience and punched him. That kicked off an actual brawl on stage: cymbals flying, bodies crashing, total mayhem. Our drummer, Johnny Piper (God rest his soul) jumped in to help subdue the guy — I think his Millwall supporter creds came in handy. I just edged quietly to the side — I had a trombone to protect.

Matt: You’ve designed everything from keyboards to brass instruments for Yamaha do you ever sit in a gig and silently critique the design flaws of the instruments around you? Be honest.

Dave: Great question. Honestly, in the professional world, most players have chosen their instruments like they’ve chosen their voice — it becomes part of who they are. So it’s rare to see gear that’s wrong for the job.

But, like most musicians, I’m far more likely to be silently critiquing my own playing than anyone else’s setup.

What I really enjoy — and this has definitely been fuelled by my time at Yamaha — is talking to other players about their instruments on gigs. Horn players, guitarists, drummers, whatever. What they’re playing, why they chose it, where they got it, what they love (or hate) about it. That curiosity hasn’t gone away. And it’s a privilege to have been on both sides of the fence — designing and playing.

Matt: Japan clearly made a lasting impression. What’s more technically challenging: mastering a complex jazz chart or navigating Tokyo’s subway system with a trombone case during rush hour?

Dave: Ha ha - few things are more challenging than complex jazz charts! But navigating Tokyo’s subway system with a trombone case during rush hour on the way to a gig doing complex jazz charts is one of the greatest challenges known to man. I know — I’ve cos I've done it :-)

Matt: As the founder of JazzUp, do you think young jazz musicians today have it harder breaking through or just easier ways to post moody Instagram shots with their instruments?

Dave: Man, your questions are good!

Honestly, I think it’s harder now. There are far fewer casual gigs than there used to be. When I was starting out, there were pubs full of live music — working bands, jam sessions, scenes you could cut your teeth on. That landscape’s changed. Even places like Club 85 in Hitchin — the long-time home of JazzUp — are under threat. It’s tough.

Sure, younger players have adapted to social media, and there’s definitely a knack for posting moody shots with a horn. But most of the musicians I know just want to play. I’m not convinced that posting on Instagram leads to paid gigs - maybe it does, maybe it doesn’t. Maybe I’m just from a different generation.

You can curate your social media, but you can't curate a jazz solo on stage - it's happening for real!

Matt: If your trombone could talk, what would it say about the gigs it’s survived and would it need therapy after some of them?

Dave: My trombone does talk - I just happen to be the one enabling it.

But when it’s just the two of us, it usually says something like: “Mate… when are you going to pay for my therapy? I’ve stuck with you through all sorts, and it’s about time you coughed up for my mental health. Surely you’ve earned enough by now — especially with that new single out…”

Matt: Your new EP Tokyo is on the horizon. How much of the Japanese influence comes through in your compositions and do you ever find yourself subconsciously trying to play haiku in brass form?

Dave: It is indeed - the Tokyo EP is on the way, and we’re launching it at the 100 Club on Oxford Street on 22nd October. You have to come.

The title track, Tokyo, is absolutely soaked in the energy of that city - this living, breathing Blade Runner meets Mega-City One kind of place. The track is about the city. The lyrics are about the city. I won’t give too much away just yet, but it channels the chaos, the beauty, the overload — all of it.

And yes, there’s definitely a rhythmic haiku vibe running underneath it. Controlled chaos, maybe.

Matt: Let’s settle this once and for all: what’s the cooler jazz accessory a perfectly polished mute or the ability to walk on stage looking like you just stepped out of a noir detective movie?

Dave: Nice one. I reckon a perfectly polished mute belongs to a brass band player - a jazz musician’s is more likely to be battered, bent, and barely hanging together. And let’s be honest: most jazz musicians look more like they’re being followed by a detective.

But seriously — yeah. Jazz is about style. Miles Davis knew it better than anyone. He once said something like: “Anyone can play a note. That’s 20%. The other 80% is the attitude of the motherf…r playing it.”

Matt: Final question… If you could form a supergroup with any living or dead jazz legends, who’s in the lineup and more importantly, who’s buying the first round after the gig?

Dave: Unfair question! That’s impossible.

But okay - I’d love to play with Duke Ellington. Just to be near that musical mind. And I once had a dream I met Louis Armstrong — it was intense, just this huge, overwhelming personality. I never forgot it. I wouldn’t dare get on stage with him, but I’d kill for a hang with him.

Maybe Elvin Jones on drums. Or wow - what would it be like to be on stage with Ella??… no. See? It's impossible.

As for the first round - with a supergroup like that, the first and all subsequent rounds would surely be on the house?

Come to think of it, I have assembled an insane band for the 100 Club launch! Andre Espeut, Corrie Dick, Nim Sadot, Binker Golding, Rob Luft and Nikolaj Torp Larson - if that's not a supergroup I don't know what is!

More about Dave here:

www.davekeech.co.uk

>>> Imagine a world where the earth is becoming hell?

Click banner below to hear a FREE 5 mins sample of my audiobook which is becoming a graphic novel too)...

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 review

2025-05-13T09:30:00.003+01:00

Kingdom Come: Deliverance II (PS5)

– A Platinum Pilgrimage Through the Murderous Meadows of Bohemia

By Matt Adcock (@Cleric20) – Still trying to scrub the virtual blood off my hands

You know you’re deep into a game when the local wildlife start to fear your name. After 200+ hours lost in the mud-caked, blood-smeared wonder that is Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, I emerged victorious, platinum trophy in hand, sanity… well, we don’t talk about that anymore.

This game doesn’t just invite immersion, it grabs you by the filthy 15th-century tunic and shoves you face-first into history. The Bohemian countryside is rendered with such obsessive detail that I half-expected to contract the plague through my controller. Between the dual-region map of Trosky and Kuttenberg, there’s no shortage of ways to die horribly or embarrass yourself in front of the nobility.

But the real magic is in how alive the world feels. NPCs aren’t just medieval cardboard cutouts wandering aimlessly - they notice things. Hang around a crime scene too long, and they’ll start throwing suspicious glances your way. Covered in blood after a casual highway robbery? Don’t expect a warm welcome at the tavern. One memorable moment saw me forget to wash after a particularly brutal bandit encounter, (for the 'Without Protection' trophy - where you have to break an enemy's shield - tip get a shield, use it until it's wrecked <10% health - then knock out a bandit and swap their shield for the almost broken one, then wait till they come round and fight em!) but let’s just say the local blacksmith wouldn’t even haggle with me until I’d bathed. Fair, really.

And if you’re feeling the call of courtly love (or at least, a well-timed flirt), there’s fun to be had on the romantic front too. From shy village girls to worldly ladies who demand a bit more chivalry, the game lets you dabble in medieval matchmaking. Just be warned—this isn’t a dating sim. Fail to impress, and you’ll find your attempts at wooing met with withering scorn and the kind of rejection that stings worse than a longsword to the ribs.

This is the screen you get for beating the game :)

The Platinum Path: Pain, Perseverance, and Poor Life Choices

Securing the platinum in this beast of a game is a feat worthy of its own ballad. You’ll need the patience of a saint and the moral flexibility of a highwayman. Take the bastard 'Lent' trophy, for example, avoid eating meat or killing animals. Easy, right? Until you realise that in some missions you'll have to fight wolves!?

Then there is the sadistic genius of the 'Overkill' trophy. Kill a rabbit. With what passes for a 'gun'. In the 1400s, before sights or any semblance of being able to 'aim' was invented!? Spoiler: these rabbits aren’t just fast - they’re basically fur-covered ninjas. I achieved this absurd task after discovering a field near Grund that might as well be called the Bunny Battle Royale. Armed with my trusty/wonky scattershot pistol and all the remorse of a Saturday morning cartoon villain, I blasted my way to victory. Just don’t ask how many attempts it took… or how ridiculous it feels firing a hand cannon at a rabbit. Or how smug they look hopping away after you missed again...

Pro Tips for Fellow Trophy Masochists

Save Like Your Life Depends On It. Because it does. You can’t undo a poorly timed rabbit massacre.

Stat Watcher Extraordinaire. Keep checking your menus like a paranoid accountant—one errant sausage or misplaced arrow can ruin your perfect run.

One Save Does Not Rule Them All. Some trophies actively hate each other. Split your playthroughs or prepare for existential despair.

Consult the Ancients. PowerPyx and other guides are your new best friends. Ignore them at your peril.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is not just a game; it’s a full-time medieval lifestyle simulator where every victory tastes sweeter because it came with so much suffering. The NPCs behave more believably than some people I know in real life, the romance is charmingly awkward, and the quest for platinum is the gaming equivalent of climbing Everest, only with more bloodstains and rabbit-related trauma.

Is it worth the hours? The controller-clenching frustration? The existential dread as you realise you forgot to save before launching a rabbit into orbit?

Absolutely.

And if anyone wants to meet me near Grund, I hear the rabbits are regrouping for the sequel…

Out of a potential 5, you have to go with a Darkmatters:

ööööö

(5 - Jumped into my all time fav game list...)

>>> Imagine a world where the earth is becoming hell?

Click banner below to hear a FREE 5 mins sample of my audiobook which is becoming a graphic novel too)...

Matt finds Fréwaka (review) and best folk films

2025-05-02T11:39:00.000+01:00

Fréwaka (2024)

Dir. Aislinn Clarke

Reviewed by Matt (@Cleric20) Adcock

Starring: Clare Monnelly, Bríd Ní Neachtain Genre: Irish-language Folk Horror

"Folklore and trauma collide…”

Something wicked stirs in the shadows of Ireland’s mist-shrouded folklore. Fréwaka, the bold and deeply unsettling second feature from Aislinn Clarke (The Devil’s Doorway), is an Irish-language horror that grips like a cold hand from beyond the veil.

This is not horror by numbers either, oh no, it’s horror that seeps into your bones, steeped in grief, guilt, and ancestral trauma. Shoo (a superb Clare Monnelly) begins to question everything as we follow her, a palliative care nurse reeling from the suicide of her estranged mother.

Emotionally adrift, she takes a job in a remote Irish village, tending to an elderly woman named Peig (Bríd Ní Neachtain), whose mind is fractured by memories of being stolen away by the Na Sídhe, dark mythic entities said to spirit people from this world. But as Shoo digs deeper into Peig’s haunted recollections, the edges of reality begin to fray, and what begins as care work curdles into a harrowing confrontation with personal and collective ghosts.

“This house holds more than memories…”

Clarke eschews cheap scares for a potent, slow-building dread. Every creak of wood, every breath in the silence, feels like an omen. The rural setting becomes a liminal space between the living and the dead, where trauma festers and refuses to be buried. Visions emerge: masked figures, animal totems, a red door that beckons like a wound. Every element is symbolic, and all of it drips with menace. Personal favs the glowing red cross and 'glow-in-the-dark' Virgin Mary statue.

Monnelly gives a powerhouse performance, grounding the film in emotional authenticity. As Shoo’s stoicism begins to crack, the story opens into a deeper reflection on mother-daughter bonds, inherited pain, and the horrors society chooses to forget. Ní Neachtain is extraordinary too, her Peig is both pitiable and unnerving, a vessel for ancient memory and madness alike.

“Ireland’s ghosts do not rest easily.”

What truly elevates Fréwaka is its ambition. This is horror as reckoning. When Peig speaks of the realm she was taken to, she describes not a fairytale underworld, but a dystopia of starvation, silence, and shame. The line between folklore and real-world suffering collapses in terrifying fashion. The atmosphere is suffocating, the sound design eerie and unrelenting and the supernatural is just a heartbeat away.

Fréwaka is a rare beast, artful, chilling, and emotionally devastating. It joins the ranks of horror cinema that doesn’t just want to scare you, but to say something true and painful. Fans of Saint Maud, or The VVitch will find much to admire here.

Out of a potential 5, you have to go with a Darkmatters:

öööö

(4 - This is horror that hurts. And lingers...)

Matt's Top Folk Horror Movies:

The Wicker Man (1973)

The definitive folk horror classic—an eerie collision of Christian morality and pagan ritual, culminating in one of the most iconic endings in cinema history.

Midsommar (2019)

A sun-drenched nightmare that turns grief and toxic relationships into a florally wrapped descent into cultish horror, both hypnotic and viscerally disturbing.

The VVitch (2015)

A slow-burning 17th-century tale of religious paranoia and supernatural doom, with a chilling atmosphere and one unforgettable goat named Black Phillip.

Kill List (2011)

Starts as a hitman thriller, then veers into occult terror, brutally bleak, disorienting, and shocking in its final moments.

A Field in England (2013)

Ben Wheatley's surreal black-and-white odyssey of alchemy and madness in the English Civil War, folk horror as a psychedelic fever dream.

The Blood on Satan’s Claw (1971)

A grim tale of a demonic force infecting a rural village’s youth—beautifully shot, deeply unsettling, and a core pillar of the folk horror “unholy trinity.”

Häxan (1922)

A silent docu-horror hybrid about witchcraft through the ages, avant-garde, creepy, and way ahead of its time in both imagery and message.

Wake Wood (2009)

Modern Irish folk horror about grief and resurrection, channelling Pet Sematary through the eerie lens of rural ritual and pastoral vengeance.

The Ritual (2017)

A lads’ hiking trip in Sweden becomes a chilling confrontation with Norse mythology, creepy forest atmosphere and one of the best monster designs in years.

Gwen (2018)

Bleak and atmospheric, this Welsh tale of creeping dread weaves economic hardship with pagan fear in a brutally intimate family tragedy.

Eyes of Fire (1983)

A U.S. frontier-set tale that blends folk magic, early colonial fear, and indigenous spirits, beautifully strange and unsettling.

Lord of Misrule (2023)

Set in a rural English village where tradition masks something ancient and malevolent, this eerie slow-burn dives deep into the rot beneath seasonal celebration and blind faith.

The Droving (2020)

A brooding, micro-budget folk thriller following a haunted man on a journey through moors and masked rituals, moody, mysterious, and steeped in folkloric revenge.

The Words of Eleven (Review)

2025-04-04T10:12:00.000+01:00

The Words of Eleven

by C J Aggett @cjaggett.bsky.social)

Reviewed by Matt Adcock (@cleric20.bsky.social)

"Sidney instinctively steps back, his heart racing. The stalker slowly turns towards him, its movements unnaturally fluid, and he feels a chill run down his spine. He swallows hard, dread flooding his veins. In a terrifying standoff, they lock eyes, the stalker's pale blue gaze pierces through the shadows, its unnerving demonic grin spreading wider between those eyes..."

Eleven writers. One isolated castle. A killer premise. What could possibly go wrong?

In The Words of Eleven, Christopher Aggett, Writing Community Chat Show host, brings together a group of horror authors for a retreat that quickly slides into nightmare territory, as the stories they begin to write start clawing their way into reality. It’s a setup rich with potential, blending meta-fictional dread with classic haunted house vibes.

The concept is pure catnip for genre fans: what will these eleven horror writers lured to a remote gothic castle come up with? Will they live to regret their deviant creations? Think Inception meets Scooby Doo.

It’s the kind of high-concept pitch that would make a Shudder exec lean forward, especially if you whisper ‘South Wales community-led horror movie adaptation’ in the right ear.”

So the concept is strong, but for me, the execution doesn’t quite hold up its end of the deal. There are flickers of atmosphere and a few moments where things genuinely click, I liked the castle which has presence, and the central idea is clearly driven by a love of horror storytelling. But the writing varies with some scenes feeling rushed, and character voices blending into each other (am sure a character changed names on one page), and I found the tension kinda stop-start rather than building to a memorable climax.

Aggett’s passion for writing and the creative community is legendary, and his first two books (my review of The Deep series) are great. I love what Chris does championing indie authors and bringing creatives together and you can feel that same energy in this book. I'd like to see this story shine with tighter editing, more show, less tell.

The Words of Eleven is an ambitious horror story that lands a few good jabs but doesn’t quite hit hard enough overall. There’s masses of promise here though.

Grab your copy here: BUY

Out of a potential 5, you have to go with a Darkmatters:

ööö

(3 - Horror writing can be the death of you...)

>>> Imagine a world where the earth is becoming hell?

Click banner below to hear a FREE 5 mins sample of my audiobook which is becoming a graphic novel too)...

Matt finds The Lies That Hide Within (review)

2025-03-23T18:57:00.001+00:00

THE LIES THAT HIDE WITHIN

(The Darkness Duology Book 2)

by Megan Boley

Reviewed by Matt Adcock

Built for vengeance. Not teamwork. Not trust. Certainly not romance.

But the end of the world doesn't care about her comfort zone...

Strap in once again, survivor. Megan Boley is back with the blistering conclusion to The Darkness Duology, and The Lies That Hide Within is a deliciously dark cocktail of post-apocalyptic mayhem, shadowy conspiracies, steamy tension, and knife-edged banter.

It's fair to say things aren't going will at the end of the world - resistance’s messengers have gone missing. Ritualistic killings are creeping closer. And somewhere in the woods, something is watching. Penny’s got a theory though and it’s not a good one. She's convinced the murderous cult she failed to erase is still out there, licking its wounds and ready to burn the world (again).

Naturally, she’s hell-bent on finishing what she started. But one woman versus an insidious death cult with biotech backing? Even Penny... voted "most likely to stab someone in the face"... knows she can’t do it alone.

Enter Mal. Her commanding officer. Her walking headache. Her very large, very growly, extremely inconvenient maybe-love-interest. She needs manpower. He needs her to follow orders. Neither of them plans to play nice.

Hopefully you get the picture, and if you've read book one you'll know that Boley is a great fun author to read. Cue: barbed flirtation, tactical bickering, and emotional whiplash...

Plus we get future Tesla *sorry* the equally morally-bankrupt megacorp: Pharmatrox.

Yep, if you like your villains with a corporate logo and a side of science-gone-wrong, prepare to get happy!

There's a lot packed in here: simmering romance, shocking twists, tick and tick. All woven into a cat-and-mouse narrative where everyone’s wearing a mask and the stakes couldn’t be higher.

It even gets a little steamy. Not smut, but enough heat to fog up your tactical goggles.

Wanna see a pic of Megan Boley, the dystopian and urban fantasy author (and, alas, a former redhead).

Jump back to my review of The Darkness All Around Us here: REVIEW

Check here Socials: Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/meganboleyauthor TikTok:https://www.tiktok.com/@metal_meg

Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/meganboleyauthor/

Out of a potential 5, you have to go with a Darkmatters:

öööö1/2

(4.5 A smart, funny, brutally great way to round off the two books)

BUY THEM HERE: Amazon link

>>> Imagine a world where the earth is becoming hell?

Click banner below to hear a FREE 5 mins sample of my audiobook which is becoming a graphic novel too)...

Matt feels The Darkness All Around Us (review)

2025-03-19T19:36:00.009+00:00

The Darkness All Around Us

by Megan Boley

Reviewed by Matt Adcock

Step this way for a brutal, pulse-pounding descent into dystopian horror that grips and pleases as it rips your heart out.

Megan Boley's The Darkness All Around Us is a full-throttle, nerve-shredding journey through a world where survival is an act of defiance and the line between humanity and monstrosity blurs with every blood-drenched step forward. If you like your dystopian fiction with a razor-sharp edge, a touch of Resident Evil-esque bio-horror, and characters who carry their trauma like a loaded gun, then buckle up, this one hit's hard.

Boley brings a world drenched in shadow, in a future where corporate greed has mutated into something far more monstrous, the novel throws us into the ruins of a society ravaged by unchecked scientific ambition. Pharmatox, the omnipresent pharmaceutical juggernaut, has been playing God with genetics, and now the world is paying the price.

Humanity is splintered, what remains of civilization clings to the edges, while unspeakable horrors lurk in the wastelands beyond. Enter Stella, a scientist with a past as dark as the world around her. Haunted by guilt and the weight of past mistakes, she’s thrust into a desperate fight when her closest friend is taken by Pharmatox for “research.”

What follows is a relentless, high-stakes infiltration into the belly of the beast, where every corner holds a new nightmare, and trust is as scarce as clean air. Boley really knows how to craft characters that feel raw and real.

Stella isn’t some invincible action hero, she’s flawed, broken, and barely holding herself together. Her journey isn’t just about survival; it’s about redemption, about clawing her way back to something worth living for. Alongside her is a ragtag band of misfits: a snarky teenage scavenger who’s seen too much, a rogue scientist who knows too many secrets, and a former Pharmatox enforcer who may or may not be trustworthy. Their dynamic crackles with tension and gallows humour, offering rare moments of light in a world gone pitch-black.

I loved the pacing, it's relentless. Every chapter drags you deeper into the abyss, each moment of reprieve shattered by another horrifying revelation. The horror here isn’t just in the grotesque mutations and corporate-controlled monstrosities, it’s in the loss of self, the fear of what we’re willing to become when the world demands it.

I also admired how Boley wields tension like a scalpel, slicing through any illusions of safety. The action is brutal, cinematic and desperate. Fights are scrappy and visceral, more survival than spectacle.

And when the horror kicks in you'll witness imagery that lingers, scenes that burn into your mind with eerie precision.

Must-Read for Dystopian Horror Fans The Darkness All Around Us is a gut-wrenching, adrenaline-fueled nightmare that refuses to pull its punches.

Megan Boley is a dystopian and urban fantasy author (and, alas, a former redhead). Her stories are full of ragtag teams, strong women, grumpy but lovable men, and some steamy romance to keep things nice and interesting...

Check here Socials: Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/meganboleyauthor TikTok:https://www.tiktok.com/@metal_meg

Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/meganboleyauthor/

Out of a potential 5, you have to go with a Darkmatters:

öööö

(4 - Read it with the lights on… but know that the darkness is already inside you.)

LIKE THIS? READ THE BOOK TWO REVIEW HERE: Review link

>>> Imagine a world where the earth is becoming hell?

Click banner below to hear a FREE 5 mins sample of my audiobook which is becoming a graphic novel too)...

FOREST of NOISE Mosab Abu Toha (review)

2025-03-11T11:47:00.003+00:00

FOREST of NOISE

by Mosab Abu Toha

Reviewed by Matt Adcock (@Cleric20 on Bluesky)

There are books that tell stories, and then there are books that pull you into the very marrow of their reality. Forest of Noise by Mosab Abu Toha is the latter, a collection of poetry that does not merely speak of loss, displacement, and resilience but makes you inhabit them.

Recently longlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize, this book is an unflinching, urgent testament to the experience of living under occupation and the enduring power of art in the face of violence. Abu Toha writes with a voice that is at once deeply personal and universally resonant. His words carry the weight of a people’s history, yet they land with the intimacy of whispered confessions. The collection's title, Forest of Noise, evokes both the deafening chaos of war and the eerie silence that follows destruction, setting the tone for poetry that oscillates between despair and defiance.

But this work does not merely catalogue suffering. The poetry also sings with resistance. There are moments where language itself becomes an act of defiance, words wielded like stones against silence and erasure. In a world that often demands his silence, he refuses, filling the void with verse. His work echoes the tradition of Mahmoud Darwish, but it is distinctly his own, modern, raw, and unrelenting in its search for truth. What makes Forest of Noise truly exceptional is its ability to hold complexity. There is rage, certainly, but also tenderness. There is mourning, but also an aching love for the land, for the people who continue to plant trees even as bombs fall.

In one particularly striking poem, Abu Toha writes of how their 'lives freeze' every time they heard a bomb falling from an F-16 or an F-35, you can feel the fear emanating from the pages. You see, Forest of Noise is not just a collection of poems; it's a chronicle of survival, identity, and the unyielding spirit of a people. Abu Toha's voice resonates with authenticity, offering readers an intimate portrayal of life in Gaza. This collection is a poignant reminder of the power of poetry to illuminate the human condition, making it a deserving contender for the Dylan Thomas Prize. Abu Toha’s poetry is a rare thing: both deeply rooted in a specific place and time, and yet expansive enough to resonate with anyone who has ever known loss, exile, or the need to fight for a voice.

Find out more about the Dylan Thomas Prize here: https://www.swansea.ac.uk/dylan-thomas-prize/

>>> Imagine a world where the earth is becoming hell?

Click banner below to hear a FREE 5 mins sample of my audiobook which is becoming a graphic novel too)...

Matt tunes in to the Tolworth Beacon with Huw Langridge

2025-02-15T16:30:00.002+00:00

The Tolworth Beacon

Huw Langridge @huwlangridge

Reviewed by Matt Adcock (X @cleric20, Bluesky @cleric20.bsky.social) - follow all my film reviews and reaction on Letterboxd (Cleric20)

Inspired by the enigmatic allure of numbers stations those cryptic shortwave broadcasts that have tantalized conspiracy theorists and insomniacs alike, Langridge weaves a narrative that's as much about the mysteries we seek out as it is about those that find us.

Agent Langridge writes with a nice matter-of-fact style which is easy to read and keeps the plot cracking along.

It's a tale that feels like a lost gem from the golden age of 1970s BBC horror, where the line between the banal and the bizarre is deliciously blurred.

For those who crave a story that lulls you into a false sense of security before pulling the rug out from under you, The Tolworth Beacon is your next must-read.

Just be prepared to leave the lights on, you might not ever look at your radio the same way again either...

Out of a potential 5, you have to go with a Darkmatters:

öööö1/2

(4.5 - Tune in, turn on, freak out..)

Have you seen this man?

I got to ask Huw some Q's...

Matt: If you had to broadcast a code radio station what might it be sending out?

Huw: Certainly nothing as deep as The Tolworth Beacon. I’d probably devise some elaborate treasure hunt and broadcast co-ordinates out to players. Maybe I could make a business out of it! Like a corporate team-building game or something that people would do on a stag party!

Matt: What is the most life-affirming thing you’ve ever read or watched in a book/film of any genre?

Huw: I often revisit the wonderful Cameron Crowe film “Almost Famous”. It’s such a great coming-of-age movie which depicts how fulfilling it can be to be creatively honest. It zooms right in on the emotional journeys of the characters. It has a great soundtrack, including that wonderful scene when they sing Tiny Dancer on the coach, which is a great depiction of how like-minded people can come together despite their differences.

Matt: If you were hired to throw a parade of any scale or theme through the centre of London what type of parade would you organise?

Huw: Well if there’s any truth to the rumours that UFOs are real, then how about Disclosure Day! To celebrate everyone finding out!

Matt: If you could choose to be a fictional character who would it be?

Huw: Commander Norton in Rendezvous with Rama. Not the most well-written character in fiction, but he gets to experience that awe-inspiring moment when the lights come on inside a 40km wide cylindrical alien spacecraft.

Matt: Who or what inspires you most (can be living or dead)?

Huw: Thomas Dolby. A supremely talented musical artist who’s recorded some wonderful albums that have been very inspiring for me, and who has had a pioneering career in the digital/tech world. He’s always had a lens on how technology and creativity come together and is fascinating to listen to when he talks about his career and life.

Matt: There’s a masked assailant with a gun to your head, who is most likely to be under the mask?

Huw: Someone telling me to stop procrastinating and do more writing.

Matt: What is the meaning of life?

Huw: To understand all facets of human consciousness, what it is, and what it can do, as I believe we’ve only scratched the surface of how powerful it is.

Matt: What was the best gift you’ve ever been given?

Huw: My grandparents gave me the money to buy a (quite expensive) Yamaha V50 synthesizer when I was sixteen. I composed and recorded music on it for years, and that creative outlet was joyous for me in the way it helped shape my thoughts and feelings, and helped me channel many emotional parts of my writing in later years.

Matt: If you could have a sidekick of any sort – what would it be able to do for you?

Huw: My sidekick would have the power to pause time for everyone but me, whenever I wanted. I’d no longer be able to use “lack of time” as an excuse to not be writing.

Matt: What would you like written on your tombstone?

Press X to restart.

Matt: Any final words you like to add.

Huw: Thanks for these questions. They really made me think!

>>> Imagine a world where the earth is becoming hell?

Click banner below to hear a FREE 5 mins sample of my audiobook which is becoming a graphic novel too)...

Unicorn Overlord review

2025-02-05T15:46:00.005+00:00

Unicorn Overlord (PS5) – A High-Fantasy Tactics Banger

Darkmatters Review – By Matt Adcock (X @cleric20, Bluesky @cleric20.bsky.social) - follow all my film reviews and reaction on Letterboxd (Cleric20)

You know the drill:a young prince, a kingdom’s gone to hell, and it’s up to you to amass an army, wage war, and somehow not get yourself impaled on a pike before the credits roll. But while Unicorn Overlord hits the fantasy-tactics notes like a bard who actually knows what they’re doing, it does so with such style, wit, and strategic depth that it makes even the most predictable tropes feel like fresh battle orders. Oh, and it’s got Disgaea energy in the best way possible, chaotic, stylish, and just unhinged enough to keep you grinning through every over-the-top battle.

Yes, the setup is familiar. Yes, you play as Alain, a deposed royal with a birthright to reclaim. And yes, an evil empire, corrupted allies, and an ancient prophecy are involved. But don’t roll your eyes just yet. Unicorn Overlord manages to take this well-worn tale and inject it with genuine personality.

At its core, this is a strategy RPG with a combat system that feels like the lovechild of Fire Emblem, Final Fantasy Tactics, and yes, Disgaea on a mild dose of caffeine. Squads move across the overworld, which looks like someone’s lovingly hand-crafted tabletop RPG come to life, engaging in auto-resolving battles where every decision you make beforehand determines whether you’re victorious or redecorating the battlefield with your own entrails.

The unit variety is gloriously over-the-top. You’ve got your standard knights and archers, sure, but also werelions, elven fencers, and a sorceress whose idea of ‘winning’ is perching smugly on a throne made of actual bats. Positioning, synergy, and a bit of sadistic creativity are key. Want a squad of mounted lancers who blitz the battlefield like cavalry on steroids? Go for it. Prefer an unholy mix of tanks and rogues that hit like a hammer wrapped in barbed wire? That works too.

It’s not just about swinging swords – Unicorn Overlord loves throwing morally ambiguous choices at you. You’ll decide the fates of your potential allies, with decisions ranging from ‘heroic mercy’ to ‘oops, guess I’m a war criminal now.’

One moment, you’re weighing whether to forgive a noblewoman who sold out her people to save her bloodline. The next, you’re debating whether a doctor experimenting on plague victims deserves a second chance or just a swift exile. There’s no real ‘right’ answer, just a series of compromises that make the world feel weighty and real. Except for the elves. Those rascals are suspiciously noble, which makes me think they’re hiding something.

Vanillaware’s signature 2.5D animation is back, and it’s great - each frame is drenched in handcrafted detail. But Unicorn Overlord is more than just a top-tier strategy RPG – it’s a testament to how far the genre has come. It takes the best elements of its predecessors, adds a healthy dose of creative chaos, and refines it into something truly special.

Whether you’re here for the deep tactical combat, the kingdom-spanning rebellion, or just to press X to eat, Unicorn Overlord is an absolute triumph. And if anyone tells you otherwise, they’re probably just bitter they lost their best unit in battle because they forgot to check a terrain modifier.

Out of a potential 5, you have to go with a Darkmatters:

ööööö

(5 One of my favourite games for a long time...)

>>> Imagine a world where the earth is becoming hell?

Click banner below to hear a FREE 5 mins sample of my audiobook which is becoming a graphic novel too)...

Irvine Welsh on screen

2025-02-02T20:18:00.005+00:00

IRVINE WELSH SCREEN ADAPTATIONS

Matt Adcock (X @cleric20, Bluesky @cleric20.bsky.social) - follow all my film reviews and reaction on Letterboxd (Cleric20)

Irvine Welsh’s world isn’t just built on ink and paper, it’s scrawled in sweat, blood, and the twisted, darkly comic energy of life on society’s fringes. His stories don’t just get adapted; they detonate on screen, leaving a mess of grit, gallows humour, and unflinching humanity in their wake. From the skag-fuelled nihilism of Trainspotting to the depraved police horror of Filth, Welsh’s work has been the catalyst for some of the most electrifying and unsettling cinematic experiences of the past few decades.

Of course it all started with Trainspotting (1996), Danny Boyle’s lightning-in-a-bottle adaptation that took Welsh’s chaotic masterpiece and turned it into a pulse-pounding, era-defining riot. A tale of addiction, survival, and the fragile bonds of friendship, Trainspotting crackled with anarchic energy, powered by Ewan McGregor’s career-defining turn as Renton and Robert Carlyle’s terrifying Begbie. Then, two decades later, T2 Trainspotting landed, a haunting and unexpectedly poignant meditation on nostalgia, regret, and the passage of time. If Trainspotting was a sugar-rush high, T2 was the comedown, reflecting on lost youth with a bruised and knowing heart.

But Welsh’s world doesn’t begin and end with Renton and his mates. Filth (2013) saw James McAvoy dive headfirst into the abyss as Bruce Robertson, a man so drenched in corruption, vice, and personal demons that he made Begbie look like a saint. A grotesque yet tragic cop spiralling into his own personal hell, Robertson was Welsh’s storytelling at its most scathing, wrapped in a neon nightmare of delusions, excess, and raw, gut-punch emotion.

Then there’s Crime, the TV adaptation that drags us deeper into the murky underbelly of law and order. Dougray Scott’s DI Ray Lennox battles inner demons while hunting the real monsters lurking beneath Edinburgh’s respectable veneer. If Filth was an unfiltered look at lawlessness, Crime asks what happens when the supposed ‘good guys’ are barely keeping themselves together.

Beyond these headline acts, The Acid House (1998) serves up three gloriously demented short stories, dripping in surreal grotesquery, body swaps, divine punishment, and all-out anarchy. Meanwhile, Ecstasy (2011) attempts to capture the euphoria and inevitable crash of club culture, though it struggles to hit the same electrifying highs as its predecessors.

For me, Welsh’s cinematic and televised legacy is a kaleidoscope of depravity, desperation, and dark humour, where morality is a grey smear and redemption is as elusive as the next hit. His stories don’t just entertain—they provoke, disgust, and linger, long after the credits roll. Whether it’s through the visceral poetry of Trainspotting, the monstrous mayhem of Filth, or the grimly compelling Crime, Welsh’s world remains as magnetic, messy, and brutally brilliant as ever. Choose Irvine Welsh. Choose madness. Choose cinema that dares to go where others fear to tread.

Trainspotting

Dir. Danny Boyle

“Choose life. Choose a job. Choose a career…” Or, if you’re Mark Renton and his crew of Edinburgh misfits, choose heroin, chaos, and a rollercoaster ride into the dark heart of addiction, friendship, and grim hilarity. Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting is a cinematic gut punch - an electrifying adaptation of Irvine Welsh’s novel that oozes style, grit, and unforgettable moments.

From the opening sprint down Edinburgh’s streets to the throbbing beats of Iggy Pop’s “Lust for Life,” Trainspotting hooks you instantly, grabs your soul, and doesn’t let go. It’s a film that takes you deep into the highs and rock-bottom lows of Renton (played with jittery brilliance by Ewan McGregor) and his band of dysfunctionally lovable rogues: the psychopathic Begbie (a terrifying Robert Carlyle), the wide-eyed Spud (Ewen Bremner, a chaotic ball of innocence), and Sick Boy (Jonny Lee Miller), a smooth-talking James Bond aficionado with dubious morals. Plus the amazing school girl Diane (Kelly McDonald)!!

Boyle directs with anarchic flair, filling every frame with raw energy and stylish chaos. Whether it’s Renton’s surreal dive into “the worst toilet in Scotland” or the heart-stopping baby-on-the-ceiling hallucination, the film balances jaw-dropping visuals with gut-wrenching emotional beats. The juxtaposition of bleak humour and brutal reality is masterfully handled, leaving you laughing one minute and devastated the next.

The soundtrack deserves its own paragraph—it’s a time capsule of ‘90s alt-cool. From Underworld’s pulsating “Born Slippy” to Lou Reed’s melancholic “Perfect Day,” each track feels inseparable from the scenes they underscore. They don’t just accompany the action; they amplify it, carving into your memory long after the credits roll.

What makes Trainspotting endure is its unflinching honesty. It doesn’t glamorize addiction but refuses to moralize either. Renton’s narration cuts through the bleakness with pitch-black humour and razor-sharp insight. This isn’t just a tale of drug abuse; it’s about disillusionment, escape, and the fragile bonds that tether us to one another.

As Renton says, “The world is changing. Music is changing. Even drugs are changing.” Yet nearly 30 years later, Trainspotting feels as vital, raw, and relevant as ever. It’s a time bomb of a movie—an unmissable ode to rebellion, survival, and the messy, human search for meaning amidst the madness.

Choose a glorious, harrowing blast of cinematic adrenaline. Choose Boyle and his stellar cast injecting life into every frame, delivering a film that’s as scuzzy as it is sublime. Choose Trainspotting. You won’t regret it.

A classic that burns bright, dark, and unforgettable.

T2 Trainspotting

Twenty years after the first chaotic sprint through Edinburgh’s streets, Danny Boyle reunites with the gang for T2 Trainspotting, a sequel as audacious and electrifying as its predecessor. It’s a film steeped in nostalgia, regret, and redemption, offering a haunting, hilarious, and heartbreakingly human reflection on ageing, friendship, and the passage of time.

Ewan McGregor’s Mark Renton is back, older but maybe not wiser, returning to a world he betrayed decades ago. His reunion with the unforgettable trio—Simon “Sick Boy” (Jonny Lee Miller), the tragic Spud (Ewen Bremner), and the utterly unhinged Begbie (Robert Carlyle), is fraught with unresolved anger, bruised egos, and fleeting flashes of camaraderie. Each character feels like a ghost of their younger self, still scarred by the choices (and betrayals) that defined their lives.

Boyle once again directs with a kinetic brilliance, seamlessly blending the raw energy of the original with a more reflective tone. The film is drenched in callbacks, from remixed snippets of Iggy Pop’s “Lust for Life” to subtle visual echoes of the first Trainspotting. But T2 isn’t just a nostalgia trip, it’s a deeply poignant exploration of how time wears us down and how we fight to reclaim what’s been lost.

The cast is on fire. McGregor’s Renton is a man teetering on the edge of redemption and despair, while Miller’s Sick Boy revels in cynical schemes and bitter grudges. Bremner, though, is the heart of the film, his portrayal of Spud as a tragic, stumbling poet searching for purpose is nothing short of magnificent. And Carlyle’s Begbie? Still terrifying, still magnetic, and somehow even more dangerous with age.

The film doesn’t hit the same high-octane rush as its predecessor, but that’s the point. T2 is less about the thrill of youth and more about grappling with the weight of the years. It’s a sequel that knows you can’t outrun the past—it’ll always catch up with you, usually at the worst possible moment.

And what about those ‘what ifs’? Kelly McDonald pops up as a middle-aged Diane - not longer the wild party girl, she’s a successful lawyer and Renton’s looks he gives her are pure heartbreak as he realizes she’s far out of his league now.

And the visuals? Pure Boyle. The camera dances with surrealism, injecting humour and heartbreak into every frame. From Spud’s scrawled memoirs to Renton’s desperate cries of “Choose life!” Brilliantly updated for the 21st century, every moment feels like it’s been crafted with love and reverence for the original while carving its own identity.

T2 Trainspotting is a bittersweet triumph and I love it very nearly as much as the classic original. This is a sequel that doesn’t just revisit beloved characters but deepens their stories, offering a brutally honest look at the toll of time. Equal parts hilarious, melancholic, and visually stunning, it’s a worthy follow-up and an improvement on the book ‘Porno’ it’s based on.

You can’t recapture the thrill of the first hit, but T2 comes breathtakingly close. Choose this film. Choose nostalgia. Choose life!?

FILTH

“Life’s a joke, and the punchline’s you,” sneers Bruce Robertson (James McAvoy) in Filth, the gloriously depraved adaptation of Irvine Welsh’s darkly comic novel.

Filth by name and nature, Directed by Jon S. Baird, this is no ordinary crime drama—it’s a psychedelic descent into the warped mind of a man who’s equal parts genius, monster, and tragic victim of his own demons. Strap in, because Filth is one hell of a ride.

Forget Speak No Evil - this film is where McAvoy delivers a career-defining performance as Robertson, a corrupt Edinburgh cop who thrives on manipulation, drugs, and self-destruction. “There’s only one thing you need to know about me,” he smirks, lighting a cigarette after framing a colleague. “I’m a scheming c***, and I’m damn good at it.” His charm is as intoxicating as the whiskey he downs by the gallon, and McAvoy walks the tightrope between comedy and heartbreak with breathtaking skill.

Baird’s direction plunges us headfirst into Bruce’s chaotic world, riffing the novel’s hallucinations of talking farm animals, twisted sexual fantasies, and grim flashbacks that hint at the trauma fueling his spiral. One standout sequence sees Robertson, strung out and paranoid, confronting his own reflection in a dirty nightclub mirror. “You’re a disgrace,” he hisses, only for his reflection to reply, “No, Bruce, you’re the only one who sees the truth.” It’s mesmerizing stuff. As a man in his middle 50s, this is the sort of thing that hits home…

The supporting cast is equally strong, with Eddie Marsan shining as Bladesey, Bruce’s pitiable doormat of a pal, and Imogen Poots adding a touch of warmth as the morally upright Amanda. But make no mistake, this is McAvoy’s show, and he owns every twisted moment.

Filth is equal parts hilarious and harrowing, a riotous blend of pitch-black humour and raw emotion. It’s a film that forces you to laugh even as it makes you squirm, delivering gut-punch revelations about guilt, loss, and the cost of unchecked ambition. By the time the haunting strains of Clint ‘Pop Will Eat Itself’ Mansell’s score kick in for the finale, you’re left reeling, equal parts thrilled and devastated.

For me, Filth is a triumph - a riotous Irvine-Welsh-em-up that’s as unforgettable as it is unhinged. Like Bruce himself, it’s brazen, unapologetic, and utterly compelling.

Filthy, fantastic, and ferociously good.

CRIME

Both seasons are excellent - nicely capturing the murky darkness swirling behind the facade of respectability!! I really hope there is a third now the book is out.

The World of Crime, Irvine Welsh’s hard-hitting TV drama drags the shiny veneer of respectability through the dirt, revealing the rotten underbelly of society. This copper-em-up takes Welsh’s trademark filth and flips the perspective to the other side of the law, delivering a gritty and gripping exploration of justice, trauma, and the horrifying depravity hiding behind closed doors.

Dougray Scott leads the charge as DI Ray Lennox, a man on the edge. He’s a cop with demons aplenty, haunted by past failures and battling his own addictions while chasing down the worst humanity has to offer. Scott is absolutely magnetic, delivering a performance that’s equal parts broken and determined. Lennox feels like the antidote to Bruce Robertson of Filth, where we first met Lennox.

But where Bruce revelled in his own debauchery, Lennox carries the weight of the world, fighting to keep himself together as he stares into the abyss.

Crime doesn’t pull its punches. The show plunges into the darkest recesses of human behaviour, from child exploitation to systemic corruption, painting a grim portrait of a world where morality is in short supply. Welsh’s writing is as sharp as ever, blending gallows humour with moments of raw emotional impact. This is no procedural whodunnit—it’s a harrowing journey into the heart of darkness, where even the “good guys” are barely holding it together.

The supporting cast helps flesh out the bleak tapestry, with Joanna Vanderham as DS Amanda Drummond providing a much-needed counterpoint to Lennox’s spiralling chaos. The interplay between them offers moments of humanity amid the gloom. Meanwhile, Jamie Sives brings a smarmy charm as Lennox’s morally ambiguous colleague. It’s a strong ensemble that keeps the drama grounded, even as the plot edges into almost unbearable territory.

Visually, the show captures Edinburgh’s duality, its postcard-perfect exteriors starkly contrasted with grimy interiors and shadowy corners. This isn’t the Edinburgh of tourist brochures; it’s a city steeped in secrets, where respectability masks a festering rot. The direction leans into this contrast, creating a sense of unease that lingers long after the credits roll.

But while Crime doesn’t shy away from the horrors it depicts, it also has moments of defiant hope. Lennox’s journey is as much about redemption as it is about uncovering the truth. Welsh’s knack for unmasking humanity—flawed, damaged, but still striving—is what elevates this above standard police dramas.

Irvine Welsh’s Crime is a gripping, harrowing, and unflinchingly brutal take on the crime genre. It balances the grotesque with the profound, peeling back the layers of filth to find fractured humanity at its core. A must-watch for anyone who can stomach its unrelenting darkness, and a shining example of how Welsh’s work continues to evolve.

Feels like some sort of bandage for Broken Souls

Dougray Scott as DI Ray Lennox is as I said is fantastically haunted and Joanna Vanderham as DS Amanda Drummond is superb!!

Highly recommended!

The Acid House

“If you’re God - what are you doing sitting here wasting time with the likes of me?“

Welcome to The Acid House, a grimy, gut-punching, nasty ne’er-do-well-em-up based on the twisted tales of Irvine Welsh. If you thought Trainspotting was the peak of his sordid genius, think again. Here’s a film that doesn’t just poke at the filth under society’s carpet, it tears the whole thing up and rolls you in it for good measure.

Directed by Paul McGuigan, this deranged triptych of tales bursts onto the screen like a drug-fueled fever dream. E.g the wildly unhinged The Granton Star Cause, where a down-on-his-luck loser meets God (yes, God) in a pub and promptly gets transformed into a fly - and wreaks shitey revenge on those he thinks has wronged him.

Or the blisteringly bleak A Soft Touch, where one man’s life becomes a black comedy of humiliation. And then there’s The Acid House, a brain-frying body-swap freak-out that plays like Kafka on acid.

Oh, and let’s not mince words, this film isn’t just wallowing in filth; it’s practically marinated in truckloads of sex, violence, and depravity. You’ll see everything from hedonistic benders to brutal beatdowns, all shot with unflinching glee. The explicit content isn’t just a feature, it’s the fuel that powers this anarchic rollercoaster.

The cast delivers every grimace, snarl, and grotty line of dialogue with sweaty, wild-eyed conviction. Stephen McCole’s swaggering performance as Boab is a standout, a man whose life goes so off the rails, it crashes straight into a morose hell. And Maurice Roëves as disenchanted God? He’s handing out cosmic punishments like a Glaswegian bouncer kicking you out of heaven.

Visually, The Acid House is a riot of surreal, chaos. McGuigan cranks up the madness, serving up everything from trippy hallucinations to the grimy underbelly of urban decay, all set to a pulsating, mind-melting soundtrack. It’s a scuzzy, anarchic aesthetic nihilism.

But this isn’t just shock for shock’s sake. Beneath the lurid, often grotesque surface, Welsh’s razor-sharp social commentary cuts deep. These stories might be drenched in filth, but they reflect a society that’s failing its most vulnerable, a world where hope is as fleeting as a drug hit and just as addictive.

The Acid House isn’t for the faint-hearted, but for those willing to dive headfirst into its sordid swamp, it’s a gloriously grim ride. Welsh fans, rejoice, this is the cinematic equivalent of a back-alley endorphin headbutt, and it’s wicked fun.

Prepare for a trip… but don’t expect to come out clean.

ECSTASY

Welcome to the darker recesses of Edinburgh’s club culture, where “Irvine Welsh’s Ecstasy” sets out to take you on a drug-fueled thrill ride—but stumbles along the way. Based loosely (and I mean loosely) on the third story from Welsh’s cult-favourite novel Ecstasy: Three Tales of Chemical Romance, this low-budget druggie-em-up aims for the dizzy heights of Trainspotting but lands somewhere in its shadowy wake.

Let’s start with the good. The film treats us to some beautifully moody shots of Edinburgh, a city that wears its grit and glamour with equal pride. Director Rob Heydon makes the most of the setting, capturing both the stark urban underbelly and moments of surprising beauty. There’s also a standout fast-forward sex scene, spiked with a touch of drug-enhanced hedonism, that has some of the manic energy Welsh’s stories are known for. It’s a cheeky nod to the blurred boundaries of pleasure and despair in the rave scene.

Unfortunately, that’s about as high as this trip gets. The acting, while earnest, rarely rises above mediocre. Our leads are fine on paper… Adam Sinclair as Lloyd, the lost soul seeking a spark of something more, and Kristin Kreuk as Heather, his love interest, but their chemistry is lukewarm, and the script doesn’t help. Sinclair gives it his all, but he struggles to capture the raw, desperate charisma needed to anchor a story about love and excess. Kreuk is better but feels underwritten, reduced to playing the moral compass in a tale that should revel in moral ambiguity.

The story itself has been dulled down, neutered of the raw, unfiltered grit that made Welsh’s writing iconic. There’s a sense that the filmmakers were playing it safe, skimming over the sharp-edged commentary on love, addiction, and existential despair that fans of the book might have been hoping for. What we’re left with is a serviceable but sanitized tale that lacks bite.

With a low budget that’s all too apparent, the film struggles to make the most of its potential. The club scenes feel muted, the drug trips lack creativity, and the overall vibe is a little too polished for a story that should leave you feeling unclean.

Ecstasy is, at best, a pale reflection of Trainspotting, a cautionary tale that doesn’t quite land the caution or the thrills. For Irvine Welsh fans, it might offer a mild buzz, but for everyone else, it’s a film that feels like it’s chasing the dragon without ever catching it.

A decent hit of Edinburgh scenery and one or two inspired moments can’t save this from being a diluted take on Irvine Welsh’s potent original. Watch it if you’re a completist or a die-hard Welsh fan like me but don’t expect the high to last.

>>> Imagine a world where the earth is becoming hell?

Click banner below to hear a FREE 5 mins sample of my audiobook which is becoming a graphic novel too)...

Neo-Noir Film Picks (Since 2010)

2025-01-30T10:50:00.002+00:00

Photo credit: Nicolas Miller (find our more)

Neo-Noir: The Dark Heart Reborn

Imagine a world painted in shadow, where morality is a currency in freefall and every cigarette-lit silhouette is framed like a shattered dream. Welcome to Neo-Noir, the unholy resurrection of classic Film Noir, that seductive cinematic beast first dissected by French critic Nino Frank in 1946.

Back then, noir was all trench coats, femme fatales, and the slow erosion of a once-rigid moral code. Crime, psychological torment, and a creeping nihilism lurked behind every Venetian-blinded window.
But then came Neo-Noir, its name born from the Greek “neo,” meaning “new” (so, literally, “new noir”—but with a sharper blade and an even meaner streak).

As philosopher Mark Conard puts it, neo-noir is “any film coming after the classic noir period that contains noir themes and noir sensibility.” Translation? The shadows got darker, the cynicism sharper, and the blood on the pavement fresher.

From the existential dread of Chinatown (1974) to the neon-drenched nightmares of Blade Runner (1982), from the sun-scorched fatalism of Blood Simple (1984) to the fractured psyche of Memento (2000), Neo-Noir is an evolution, a mutation, and a love letter written in blood to the genre that never really died. It just got smarter, meaner, and is one of my favourite genres!

Here are Matt (find me on Bluesky) Adcock's slightly left-field Neo-Noir Film Picks (Since 2010) - they are not ranked in order of greatness, and the list doesn't include the masters of the genre Coen Bros or one of my all-time fav films DRIVE - just listed for your thoughts, do let me know how many you've seen...

1. Arkansas (2020)

A slow-burn crime thriller with a darkly humorous streak, following two low-level drug dealers working for a mysterious boss they’ve never met. Liam Hemsworth and Vince Vaughn anchor this offbeat, Southern noir gem.

2. LaRoy Texas (2023)

A gloriously dark comedy of errors, where a man mistaken for a hitman spirals into chaos and absurdity. Twisty, clever, and perfectly pitched for fans of neo-noir absurdism.

3. Last Stop in Yuma County (2024)

A high-stakes, tension-filled neo-noir set in a remote gas station, where a group of strangers cross paths and chaos erupts. Its single-location claustrophobia makes every interaction feel razor-sharp and oh boy it's brutally bleak!?

4. Hit Man (2023)

Richard Linklater’s witty and stylish neo-noir follows a teacher moonlighting as a fake hitman for the police. Glenn Powell shines as a morally conflicted and unexpectedly charming protagonist in this sharp, genre-blurring delight.

5. Bad Times at the El Royale (2018)

Seven strangers, each with a secret, check into a decaying motel that’s hiding a few secrets of its own. This star-studded neo-noir has Tarantino-esque style and a playful, dangerous vibe.

6. Small Town Crime (2017)

John Hawkes shines as a washed-up ex-cop who stumbles into a murder mystery, turning into an unlikely noir antihero. Darkly funny and unexpectedly heartfelt.

7. I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore (2017)

Melanie Lynskey and Elijah Wood star in this dark, quirky neo-noir about a woman and her oddball neighbour trying to track down thieves. Equal parts crime thriller and dark comedy.

8. Logan Lucky (2017)

Steven Soderbergh’s slick heist movie with a neo-noir twist. Channing Tatum, Adam Driver, and Daniel Craig execute a NASCAR robbery in this sharp, funny thriller which packs the best Game of Thrones related prison riot scene ever...

9. Cop Car (2015)

A minimalist neo-noir where two kids steal a seemingly abandoned cop car, only to find themselves hunted by its dangerous owner (Kevin Bacon). A tense and wickedly entertaining ride.

10. No Sudden Move (2021)

Steven Soderbergh’s tightly wound noir about a botched heist and a tangled conspiracy in 1950s Detroit. Stylish, clever, and filled with double-crosses.

11. Greedy People (2024)

A scathing neo-noir dark comedy about greed, murder, and betrayal among a dysfunctional family vying for a fortune. Twisty, sharp, and packed with pitch-black humour.

12. Out of the Furnace (2013)

A grim neo-noir about crime and revenge in America’s Rust Belt, with powerful performances by Christian Bale and Casey Affleck, in fact, the cast is stacked adding in Willem Dafoe and Woody Harrelson. Bleak, tense, and gripping.

13. The Nice Guys (2016)

Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe star in Shane Black’s witty, neon-drenched noir-comedy about bumbling detectives investigating a murder in 1970s Los Angeles.

14. Nightcrawler (2014)

Jake Gyllenhaal delivers a chilling performance as a freelance crime journalist who spirals into moral depravity. A neon-lit descent into the darker corners of ambition and voyeurism.

15. Love Lies Bleeding (2023)

A steamy, violent neo-noir following a couple’s pursuit of the American Dream through bodybuilding, drugs, and betrayal. With lush visuals and simmering tension, it’s a stylish new entry in the genre - plus Ed Harris with a mullet has to be seen!

16. The Card Counter (2021)

Paul Schrader delivers a brooding neo-noir about gambling, redemption, and revenge, with a haunting performance by Oscar Isaac backed up by that rascal Willem Dafoe again!

17. Wind River (2017)

A murder mystery set on a Native American reservation, with a noir-like atmosphere of isolation and slow-burning tension. Jeremy Renner and Elizabeth Olsen are excellent.

18. Inherent Vice (2014)

Paul Thomas Anderson’s trippy neo-noir comedy follows a stoner detective (Joaquin Phoenix) navigating a bizarre mystery in 1970s California. Offbeat, surreal, and packed with dark humour.

19. Kill the Messenger (2014)

A taut and compelling neo-noir based on the true story of journalist Gary Webb, whose investigation into the CIA’s drug trade leads to devastating consequences.

20. Vengeance (2022)

A sharply funny and surprisingly thoughtful neo-noir following a podcaster investigating the death of a woman he barely knew. B.J. Novak directs and stars in this clever, darkly comic thriller.

I LOVE NEO NOIR!!

>>> Imagine a world where the earth is becoming hell?

Click banner below to hear a FREE 5 mins sample of my audiobook which is becoming a graphic novel too)...

DARKMATTERS - The Mind Of Matt

The Sequel is coming and Lucas Closs interview...

Matt gets Vicious with cursed box movies

Darkmatters Presents: Top Cursed-Box Movies…

The Box (2009)

The Special (2020)

The Possession (2012)

Hellraiser (1987)

The K: or the hum beneath the (reflecting) skin

The K: or the hum beneath the (reflecting) skin

Dawn Merriman

(5 - Step this way for some excellently dark, unsettling psychological suspense.)

Hell On Wheels: The Car vs The Car: Road to Revenge

The Car (1977) vs The Car: Road to Revenge (2019)

The Car

(3 - Lean, mean, and enjoyably ridiculous. Not the classic I was hoping for but absolutely a cult petrol-fume delight..)

Car: Road to Revenge

(3.5 - It shouldn’t work. Yet it kind of does.And the cyberpunk twist gives it just enough personality to edge out its predecessor...)

Final Thoughts: Devil vs Digital Demon

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Darkmatters Guide

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Episode 1: “The Hedge Knight”

(5 - promising and funny where you might expect grimness, and quietly poised to deeply move you.)

Matt finds faith in The Carpenter's Son (review)

The Carpenter’s Son

(3.5 - It may not be a great horror film. But it is a God-haunted one.)

Matt's Top Ten Films of 2025

Here are my favourite films of the year...

Pluribus review / guide - new scifi happiness

Pluribus (Apple TV+)

(5 - Pluribus is an elegant, slow-burning provocation...equal parts Black Mirror, Better Call Saul, and Brave New World. It’s not action-packed, but it hums with intelligence. Gilligan is clearly working at full creative power again, and Seehorn is mesmerising.)

Tom's Crossing (Mark Z. Danielewski) REVIEW

Matt lives The Life of a Showgirl (review)

Lakes International Comic Art Festival – A Day Of Highlights

Lakes International Comic Art Festival – A Day Of Highlights

ALIEN EARTH - episode one reaction & guide

ALIEN: EARTH – EPISODE ONE “NEVERLAND”

(5 - In space people will hear you scream 'this is an excellent start!')

Matt reports on Cyberside: Second Simulation

MISSION REPORT / CYBERSIDE: SECOND SIMULATION

CORE INTEL: SUBJECT BREAKDOWN

THE CONSPIRACY UNPACKED

RECOMMENDATION

(5 - Memory locked, target tagged, reality destabilised....)

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/234973529-cyberside

Purchase Link: https://mybook.to/cybersidess-zbt

THE GiX LOGS - Observations From The Future

Dave Keech Interview Americanology and More

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 review

Kingdom Come: Deliverance II (PS5)

The Platinum Path: Pain, Perseverance, and Poor Life Choices

Pro Tips for Fellow Trophy Masochists

Matt finds Fréwaka (review) and best folk films

Fréwaka (2024)

The Words of Eleven (Review)

The Words of Eleven

Matt finds The Lies That Hide Within (review)

THE LIES THAT HIDE WITHIN

(The Darkness Duology Book 2)

(4.5 A smart, funny, brutally great way to round off the two books)

Matt feels The Darkness All Around Us (review)

The Darkness All Around Us

(4 - Read it with the lights on… but know that the darkness is already inside you.)

FOREST of NOISE Mosab Abu Toha (review)

FOREST of NOISE

Matt tunes in to the Tolworth Beacon with Huw Langridge

The Tolworth Beacon

I got to ask Huw some Q's...

Unicorn Overlord review

Unicorn Overlord (PS5) – A High-Fantasy Tactics Banger

Irvine Welsh on screen

IRVINE WELSH SCREEN ADAPTATIONS

Trainspotting

T2 Trainspotting

FILTH

CRIME

The Acid House

ECSTASY

Neo-Noir Film Picks (Since 2010)

Neo-Noir: The Dark Heart Reborn

(3.5 - It shouldn’t work. Yet it kind of does.
And the cyberpunk twist gives it just enough personality to edge out its predecessor...)